Double-Blind: A Modern LITRPG - Chapter 237

We cleared the surroundings methodically. Nick and I searched opposite sides, while Talia moved much quicker, looping around the entire lake, nose to the ground. There wasn’t much to it beyond the glowing lake and a starry sky above. The beginning of a rocky embankment and tree trunks were harshly cut off, nothing but void beyond them.

Like a game world that was only half finished.

I was tempted to reach off the edge—how often do you get to interact with an utter absence of matter—but screamed at me the moment the thought popped into my mind.

So much for that.

Talia returned to me, her gait slower than normal, exhaustion clear in her face and posture. “Nothing of note.” She hesitated, glancing back in the direction she’d come. “Unless a portal activates and spews monsters everywhere.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That seems… highly specific.”

Talia inclined her head, and I followed as she padded towards the section that might have once led to a forest. There was a tree unnaturally bent in the shape of an upside down U, oddly free of bark and branches. “The scent of magic is almost overwhelming here.” She gave me a queer look. “You really can’t smell that?”

I shook my head. “Smells like a tree.” I took in a deep breath and wrinkled my nose. “And fish.”

Talia looked over past where Nick was approaching, to the body of water at the center of the clearing. “I suspect that is the lake.”

“Aren’t they constructs? Why would they keep the smell?”

“Why would any of this be happening?” Talia gave me a cautious look. “This feels too convenient. Manufactured.”

“I know.” My mouth tightened.

The lake full of planners was likely more than enough to buy us back in to Hastur’s good graces. But if he’d known it was here, why hadn’t he told us himself? Where was the catch?

“You guys find anything?” Nick called over. He’d relaxed somewhat, but still looked more than ready to raise the shield at his side at the first sign of trouble.

“Magical tree.” I chucked a thumb back at the deformity.

“Oh good. Matches the magical sword.” Nick said.

“Nothing on your end?”

Nick shook his head. “There was a circle in the grass. Looked a little like a half-built elevator similar to the one we rode to the second floor, but definitely wasn’t functional.” He paused, stopping directly before the upside down U. Then stepped through it before either Talia or I could grab him.

“Fool.” Talia hissed.

“You are literally the asshole who reads out of the creepy book at the beginning of a horror movie and gets all his friends killed.” I snapped.

“Worked out in Army of Darkness.” Nick chuckled from the other side, then winced. “Sort of. Eventually. Gotta say though, the tree doesn’t seem very magical.” He frowned.

Talia turned her nose up. “Things of this nature are rarely as they appear.”

Nick nodded thoughtfully, then looked at me. “You’re the closest thing to a mage we got. Sense anything?”

I grimaced. He knew damn well I wasn’t a mage. Lately, however, I’d been able to see hints of the threads that tied the realms of Flauros together. It wasn’t consistent and the only reason I even recognized them was due to which of course, was still on cooldown.

Feeling foolish, I stood in front of the bent tree and closed my eyes, holding out a hand towards it.

“What is he doing?” I heard Talia whisper to Nick.

“Shh.” Nick hushed her, “He’s beginning to believe.”

“Reference quota. You’ve damn well reached it.” I snapped, keeping my eyes shut.

“Aw.”

This wasn’t getting us anywhere.

But before I gave up, I noticed a heat from within my gauntlet. was unnaturally warm. When I moved my hand away, it quickly cooled. When I did the opposite, reaching in further, it grew hot again.

“Uh. Matt?” Nick called out nervously.

I ignored him. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. Just as the heat grew almost unbearable, a bright scarlet thread lanced across the inside of my eyelid. And another. And another. They all led to a center point, bright enough to leave an afterimage. I grabbed it.

.

Almost immediately, I hit “Y.” If I was understanding correctly, this was a potential backdoor into the tower. We’d been told the ripples didn’t last forever, but if the bit about fortifying its surroundings was accurate, maybe this ripple would last longer.

Either way, there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to wager that the system would interpret “No,” as “No forever.”

I studied the lump of magmatic rock in my hand. It was spider-webbed with orange, and despite looking hot enough to incinerate everything below my wrist to ashes, was only slightly warm.

Off to the side, Nick and Talia were still watching, though they appeared to have taken several steps back.

“What?” I asked.

“You just summoned a lava rock and grabbed it like it was nothing.” Nick said slowly. “Maybe it’s the edgy outfit, but… that was some dark lord shit.”

“It was… mildly distressing.” Talia agreed.

I rolled my eyes and explained what the system text had revealed. Nick’s face lit up halfway through my explanation.

“The Order’s Portal room. That’s gotta be a central hub, right?” He asked.

“Pretty sure.” I confirmed.

“Then we’re back in.” Nick grinned. “With all the bargaining power in the world. Aaron and Sunny can’t do shit if we come back with a boatload of planners and a backdoor into the tower to show for it.”

“This is feeling more and more like a trap.” Talia repeated, sounding more frustrated than before. Nick—who probably wanted to take our stroke of luck at face value—turned to argue with her. I clapped once, cutting them both off before it escalated.

“Talia’s right,” I said. “The timing is suspect. We don’t know what this is, or why it’s being handed to us. That goes double for the planners in the lake. And the sword,” I shifted my gaze, to where the blade still glittered atop the boulder, glinting with starlight. “The system is infinitely more likely to fuck us over than help us. Even if a ripple has different rules, we need to be on guard.”

Nick’s mouth turned downward. Probably wasn’t happy about it, but I could tell he took the warning seriously. He knew all too well how quickly victory could turn to ash.

With the perimeter secured, there was only one thing left to do. I stepped into the lake gingerly, the facade of water only about ankle deep. Despite natural fears to the contrary, the planners remained pacifistic, scurrying out of the way and doing little else beyond keeping their distance.

“Seems alright so far.” I said over my shoulder.

There was a splash as Nick followed me, trudging through the water.

I’m not sure what I expected to feel as we approached the stone. Anxiety. Dread, maybe. But for the first time, a feeling of curiosity struck me. Of discovery. If Talia was right, we’d been directed to this place for a reason. Something was guiding us here, maybe Hastur, or something else.

I’d spent so long afraid of whatever came next, that having that fear overshadowed by curiosity felt strangely freeing. It was like a glimpse into what could have been. Me, and Nick, and Jinny, and Sae, adventuring into the unknown, leveling, exploring the Realms of Flauros and bringing the bounty home. If the transposition hadn’t been so damn bloody. If I wasn’t the Ordinator.

If Jinny hadn’t died.

We pushed forward slowly, cautiously. There were so many planners that we couldn’t see the uneven floor beneath the surface. It could have dropped off at any moment, but it didn’t.

After a matter of minutes, we reached the rock outcropping at the center. I scaled it easily, hefting myself up and reaching back down to help Nick, groaning as he nearly ripped my arm out of its socket pulling himself up.

The item embedded at the center was indeed a sword. Its innate silver hilt had a swirling wavy pattern reminiscent of Damascus steel.

Nick panted from the effort, transfixed on the sword as he spoke. “You know, I keep thinking about what happened in the throne room.”

“Yeah?” So had I. “What about it?”

Nick smiled. “If we’d gone in the way I wanted, assumed the knights would hold up their end of the bargain—Merlin and the corrupted knights would have killed us. And if you rat fucked them out of the gate, I don’t get Gawain’s respect, and he doesn’t give me the key to this place.”

It made sense. The only reason we’d gotten this far was because I’d let him play it out. Taken precautions, been ready for it to go sideways.

“We got lucky.” I said, after a moment’s hesitation.

Nick caught my arm. “That’s not it, man. It wasn’t luck. The shit you were saying earlier, on the sandbar? About how you always go to the nuclear option? And how it’s not naïve to want things to be better? You trusted me to bring it home. And I trusted you to have my back with a giant fucking stick.”

He must have read the skepticism on my face, because he crossed his arms. “Yeah. I’m not stupid. You only stall like that when you’re machinating. I just… hoped whatever you were doing was insurance. And it was. That’s what I’m saying. It works. We just have to trust each other.”

I sighed. “There’ll be friction. Times where we disagree. I may do things you don’t like, things you may hate me for.”

Nick shook his head. “Dislike? Sure. Question? Absolutely. But hate? Never going to happen.”

I wanted to believe him. Wanted it more than he could know. Unfortunately, there was no telling where this rabbit hole led. How bad things were going to get. What he was saying felt childish, but like Nick himself had said, I was inclined to think that way.

Now, to the elephant in the room. I reached down and flicked the hilt of the sword, resulting in a resonant thunk. “Well, Pendragon? You gonna pull this thing out or we just going to stand up here and chatter?”

Nick glared at me. “Don’t call me that.” Then he eyed the sword. “Looks pretty stuck in there. Come on man, you did the work to get us here. Sure you don’t want to give it a shot?”

I briefly considered the possibility. Then disregarded it. “Nah. Too cliche for me. Swords are your bag. Not to mention, non-zero chance that it’d crumble to ash, or get corrupted by my dark lord shit.”

“Ha-ha.” Nick smirked, then did a cautious double-take. “You’d uh, tell me if your class had some nefarious long term goal right? Give a dude a heads up?”

“Of course I would.”

“Great.” His eyes narrowed. “Wait. That’s exactly what you’d say if you had some nefarious long term goal.”

“No. I mean yes, but I’d be less sarcastic about it.”

“Dick.”

“Brainlet.”

Seeming to summon his courage, Nick grabbed the hilt of the blade.

And pulled.