Haven's Addiction

I took some time to myself to gather my thoughts and figure out what to do next. I wandered around the town at first, marveling at the tower, and took an areal tour of it. After paying a ridiculously large fee, a pair of equally massive birds picked me up on a small wicker basket and carried me up to the top, gently setting me down on the peak. The birds were trained very well and the ride went relatively smoothly. The top of the tower was just as fascinating as the rest. It was smooth and completely flat, like the tower had been extruded from a gargantuan machine like a titanic steel bar.

The view was absolutely stunning. I could see why people shelled out so much money for the opportunity to come up here. Once on the tower there were literally only two ways down, and one of them wasn’t all that pleasant, which made me appreciate the ride with the birds all that much more.

Everywhere inside the dead zone was tranquil to me, but the peak of the tower transcended that. The view was spectacular with a gentle, comforting breeze. The top was as smooth of metal as the rest of the tower. There were no guard rails along the edge, which made getting close to the side truly terrifying. There was no way to put up rails even if they wanted to. The metal was solid with no way to bolt a railing. With one slip you would undoubtedly fall to your doom. It didn’t matter. I was in a sordid state of mind. I sat on the edge with my legs dangling over the side. A few tourists were there looking at me like I had gone completely insane. Maybe I had.

Thoughts swirled through my head that were unlike anything I felt before. They seemed alien, even though Barthandolous wasn’t there to cause it. My mind was changing, and not in a way that I liked. Even without him around the changes were still there. Much like the Carnivex in their physical transformations, once made they couldn’t be reverted even when magic is stripped away. Even if I got rid of the Orb, I didn’t know if I would be able to come back to myself again.

I looked back on how much I changed since arriving in Haven. I was already a vastly different person even before I encountered the Orb. All of those differences were at least headed in a positive direction. I grew confident and becoming more capable. I pushed the limits of my abilities, physically, mentally, and with my new found powers, to the point that it exceeded my expectations. I continued to work harder at improving myself, almost obsessively so, but it was all so that I could achieve my best. Then Barthandolous came along. My thoughts since then had become much darker. I didn’t hesitate in killing the Edic imposter. What unsettled me most of all was that I wasn’t remorseful over it. A dark part of me felt that he deserved it. I couldn’t shake it, even in the dead zone.

The process of my thoughts were no longer how I needed to become strong and learn more so that I could get home and save my family. My thoughts were replaced with who I would have to kill to get home, and dark deeds I was prepared to do to other people. Compassion and remorse were replaced with greed and hatred. I found myself getting angry at everything around me much more readily. When talking to Droclin and Ferdinand I had to struggle with myself a great deal to not strike out and hit them whenever I felt offended. A part of me was paranoid that Droclin’s reason for bringing Ferdinand was more as a bodyguard to protect him from me. I couldn’t blame him.

I didn’t want to end up like Placidious. I could see now why he did what he did. He got to the point of the transformation that it was either death or lose himself completely. I wasn’t going down like that, but I had to act fast before the changes in me were irrevocable. There was still a chance, I could feel it, but I was going to have to take one hell of a risk in order to do it. What Droclin said earlier, no matter how cheesy it sounded, was absolutely true. I had everything to lose, and if I didn’t take action I would.

I took a ride back down from the tower with a plan in mind. I told it to Droclin and Ferdinand, and gave them plans for some specific items I needed created. They both laughed maniacally, but did as I asked without question. I stepped outside of Kendrick to get back in touch with Barthandolous. I told him the plan and he laughed maniacally as well, but agreed that it had potential. I returned to the town where I stayed for a few days, studying the tower for a weakness while my new found friends had the equipment I needed custom made, per my specifications. Once complete I tested them out and made sure everything was ready. It was time for me to face the great dragon Drognaus one on one.

They all thought I was completely insane.

That was good. If the plan wasn’t crazy, then it simply wasn’t going to work.

It took nearly a week to get fully prepared for the confrontation with Drognaus. I did my best to preoccupy my mind by learning everything I possibly could about the tower. Of course it wasn’t enough. Neither to gain me access inside, nor adequately distract me from the incessant obsessive thoughts about the Orb. I hoped that keeping my mind busy would preoccupy my thoughts, like I did in the Gold library, but the Orb clouded everything.

The entire surface of the tower was made from an alloy known as Adamantium. When I first heard the name of it, I couldn’t help but blurt out ‘bullshit’ because its the same metal used in Marvel comics for Wolverines claws. I still had a hard time reading the reports, because every time I saw the name, struggled taking anything else in the report as something other than fiction as well. Then again, most all of the creatures I encountered in Haven were pulled right out of fiction, whether they were from myths, legends, or fairy tales. Around here, it seemed, one worlds fiction was another worlds every day life.

Much like its Marvel counterpart, the metal was completely impervious to practically everything. It was a synthetic alloy created by an alchemist named Lenwein through a special process that had long since been lost. Once crafted, the alloy retains its shape permanently. The use of magic seemed to be the only way to reverse the process, which made placing it in an anti-magic zone the perfect place to keep it intact.

As for the dead zone, it emanated into a perfect sphere in all directions centered on the top of the tower for exactly seven kilometers. Not just around the tower, but up into the air, and even down into the ground. Granted, nobody has yet to dig that far under the tower to verify it because they couldn’t dig that deep safely without magical means at their disposal. Since the dead zone continued for exactly seven kilometers all the way around it, and others confirmed that it continued the same distance straight up, it seemed safe to assume that it would continue underground as well.

Although I wasn’t about to take any chances. Its possible that the key to getting into the tower relied on digging beneath the surface. Several tunnels already existed beneath the tower, and were now closely regulated the the Kendrick town council to prevent potential cave ins. In fact, the council now prevented pretty much all attempts at getting into the tower. They claimed that it was for the safety of the town, but the paranoia in me couldn’t help but wonder if the town council was in on the conspiracy behind the creation of the tower.

Their concerns did have merit, though. In looking at the history of attempts to get into the tower, it seemed that pretty much every part of the town had been rebuilt at least once, and sometimes multiple times for those closest to the tower, because of the efforts. People would actually try flinging volatile spells from outside the dead zone towards the tower, the more power the better in hopes that it would get through. Every hazardous chemical substance in the known universes were brought to Kendrick at one point or another in an attempt to solve the great mystery. Through it all, the tower stood as tall and mute as every, oblivious to their presence like a great gray monolith.

Another thing that couldn’t be fully verified was the date of the tower. The tower was found about fifty years after the creation of the Orbs, however some of the accounts of the foliage around the area indicated that it had only been there for a couple decades before its discovery. Geologists determined that the area was a flat plain originally, and that the valley where the tower now stood was more like a crater, either from impact on earth, or the area around the land was used in the construction of the tower. Either way it seems that it was created a significant amount of time after the creation of the Orbs. Although Droclin was quick to point out a little known fact about the Orbs, which Barthandolous confirmed.

When first created, the Orbs were locked away in a vault together somewhere by their jailers. The addicting factor of the Orbs that prevented users from holding onto them for very long was added as a precaution, although the creators may have never intended for their use. About twenty years after their imprisonment, the Orbs were stolen and dispersed among the world. It seems that the thieves didn’t get away scott free. The White Orb was apprehended and never heard from again. Realizing the dangerous nature of the Orbs, and that all of them would need to be assembled together to release The Twelve, they quickly constructed the tower as a permanent prison to keep that from happening.

The more I researched the tower, the more I became convinced that the Orb was sealed inside. In fact, I felt that I held a piece of information that nobody else did. As I sat on the top of the tower I could feel the pull, that strange magnetic tug drawing me towards Barthandolous’s Orb, right below my feet. Something about that attraction transcended magic, but was unmistakable. The top of the tower was close enough to the Orb that I could literally feel it, probably because I owned an Orb. I may have known that the Orb sat in the tower, but I would need Drognaus to get it out. People a lot smarter than me have been trying to crack into it for the last few hundred years for their own reasons. Granted, hardly any of them had the inside knowledge about the Orbs, but each of them thought they had an edge over the competition with each new type of cutting tool, chemical, or contraption they came up with.

Most everyone who sought to get into the tower did so seeking fame and fortune. I wanted neither. I just wanted to get the Orb, along with the full limited edition collectors set, and return home. I liked to think that honorable intentions made a difference between success and failure, but I wasn’t that naive. Nothing about my actions since picking up the Orb seemed honorable. Not long ago my entire existence revolved around returning home, but now all I wanted more than anything was to be rid of the thing forever. It wasn’t just what I wanted, but what I needed. And as insane as my plan with Drognaus sounded, it would accomplish that need one way or another.

When I was ready, I left Kendrick. Barthandolous teleported me directly to the guardhouse just outside of Castle Gold. This was the exact same place I stood, a couple hundred feet away from the castle gates, where they frisked me for weapons before letting me enter the castle for the first time. I remember thinking about how paranoid they seemed. Now I knew exactly what the castle guarded, and I felt that their security was too lax. Had I been in charge of the castle, I wouldn’t have let someone who held weapons such as mine enter without confiscating them.

I looked up at the massive castle before me. The first time I came here I was awestruck by the enormity of it. It was gorgeous to look at, and unreal. Now the magic of the place was gone. Everything that made the castle fascinating was dwarfed in comparison to everything else I experienced since then. I saw the castle as nothing more than an elaborately dressed vault, a prison for cursed magical objects.

The first time I stood in that exact spot, I had yet to experience magic, psionics, or even combat. Everything changed since then. I thought that coming to Haven had turned my whole world upside down. In truth, my experiences in Haven had been rather tame up until the moment that I walked into the castle gate.

That was when I started to explore my Psionic abilities, experimented with the possibility of using magic, and conducted research into magical creatures and the history of many words that were completely unknown to me. I got in a fight for the first time, and learned how to kill.

That was also when I first had hope of returning home to see my wife. I was in the castle when Drognaus confirmed that it was definitely possible for me to return home at the exact point in time from which I left. Somewhere along the line I lost sight of that. Well, not so much lose sight of it as gained a sort of tunnel vision. I still saw my wife clearly at the end of the long dark tunnel that would be my journey, but everything else around me became blurry and unfocused. I became so obsessed with getting back to her that nothing else mattered, including any sort of moral code.

The four guards at the small shack were startled upon my arrival, immediately drawing their weapons. They recognized me instantly, and I could easily sense their fear as their weapons trembled in their hands. I would have no trouble at all in overcoming them, and dark thoughts suddenly flooded my mind of how I could dispose of them, either with magic or my pistols. Each one sounded delightfully wicked, and using a combination of the two seemed favorable. I needed to quickly squelch that feeling, which took a great deal of mental strain.

Stick to the plan. I thought loudly as much for my own sake to clear my head as for Barthandolous. I felt the dark thoughts begrudgingly fade away, and made sure it was gone completely before I addressed the guards.

“Go and tell your master,” I started to say, and had to catch myself to keep from following up with, ‘that King Arthur is here, and if he were to offer food and shelter for the night I would offer him a seat at my court in Camelot’. I was actually relieved to have my usual sarcastic self back, even if it would only be for a brief while. Instead I followed up with, “that I am here and wish to speak with him.” They looked at each other, not really sure what to do. “Alone,” I finished, not moving from my spot.

“Go along now,” I shooed them away with my hands. I had Barthandolous summon a thick comfy reclining chair directly behind me as I sat down in it. “I’ll wait.”

I leaned all the way back in the chair. Sitting in a recliner with my pack still on my back made any sort of comfort impossible, but I didn’t want them to know that. I kicked my feet up to relax and pulled out one of the reports on Kendrick that Droclin provided for me and proceeded to read it while I waited. After a few moments of pause, they sent a message to the castle. They still stood around me, weapons at the ready, but backed away an additional ten feet from me.

I continued to sit in the recliner reading a particularly interesting report on an alchemist who tried to use a powerful acid harvested from a dragons breath weapon to melt the metal of the tower, but to no avail. Instead the acid dripped down the tower and melted away some of the ground around the base.

I was most of the way through the report when the gate to the castle opened and Drognaus, in his usual human form, walked out. Guards came behind him, but he stayed them with a gesture of his hand, commanding them to wait back at the castle. I continued to look over the report in my hands, seemingly oblivious to his presence until the stood only twenty feet away from me and dismissed the guards surrounding me to go back to the castle.

He walked up to the chair where I sat, his head held high, and his hands clasped behind his back. “I hear that you wanted to speak with me.”

“Yes,” I replied as I put the papers down. “You know, I’m surprised you came out here. Aren’t you afraid that I might kill you and then storm your castle to take the Orbs you possess?”

“No,” he said with a certainty that was indisputable. “Although I understand that the Orbs are the topic of conversation.”

“I also requested that we speak in private.”

He looked around casually to verify that the guards were gone, and waited a moment for them to finish the trek back to the castle with the gate securely shut behind them. I lifted the documents in my hands back up and resumed reading them. Drognaus let out a sigh of annoyance. I heard him mumble a few words and could feel the crackle of energy around us as a barrier surrounded us.

“There. We are now hidden beneath a Shroud that obscures us from any detection. Is that acceptable?”

“Meh,” I said as I put the document away and stood up, dismissing the chair. “It will do for now.” I faced him, being sure to look him right in the eyes. “I am here to hand over the Orb.”

“Just like that?”

“Yep,” I nodded.

“Very well,” he said, holding out his right hand. “Hand it over to me and I will ensure that it gets locked away for safe keeping.”

“No can do. I need some assurances first.”

“Go ahead and list your demands, and I will determine if they are acceptable.”

“I need reprieve from my transgressions so far in Haven. I will not be arrested and there will be no bounties for my arrest or assassination contracts.”

“Agreed. Now hand over the Orb.”

“First we have to agree on it to make it binding,” I held out my own hand. “I don’t want you backing out of the deal.”

“I assure you that that would never happen. The Gold clan always stands by their word.”

“Yeah, I get it; A Lannister always pays his debts. Nonetheless, if there is anything I have learned in all my dealings, it is to always get it in writing. And an enchanted binding made with a handshake is the closest to that in Haven.”

He paused for a moment, uncertain. “I accept,” he said as he reached his hand out to shake mine. Unfortunately he didn’t get the chance to seal the deal with a magical binding. As soon as he made contact with me, I teleported both of us away.

As soon as the port completed, we both proceeded to plummet to our deaths.