Chapter 59
Chapter 59
It took a few minutes before his sister let go of him, her eyes wet from all the tears she had allowed to flow.
“You did it!” she exclaimed. “You beat it… does that mean anyone who defeats the tower can come back?”
Max winced and shook his head. “I’m… not supposed to be here. I need to leave soon before I cause problems, and none of you can tell anyone I came.”
“What? Why can’t I tell—”
“The system,” Max said, interrupting her. “Phaius or I might get punished. I don’t have long. I just… needed to see you all.”
“How long has it been?” his dad asked. “Over forty years and you haven’t aged a day. Your mother and I…”
His father paused, turning his head to look at the woman lying in the bed.
“How is she?” Max asked, a pit in his stomach rising.
Stacy cleared her throat, wrapping her arm around his and led Max to the side she had been sitting on. “Mom’s nearing the end. I offered some healing. She said no. She was ready. All these grandkids were more than she could hope for.” A smile appeared on both his sister’s and dad’s faces at those words.
Max freed his arm and moved to kneel by the bed, reaching out and gently holding his mother’s hand. It felt so cold, the veins showing through her skin. Her hand was mostly bones, all the padding and muscle gone. Yet it filled Max with a warmth that went beyond physical things.
I’m sorry, Max. I really am.
Thank you.
Bob’s words helped him to stand strong against the storm that wanted to overwhelm him.
Max slowly rubbed his thumb against her skin.
“I’m here, Mom. I missed you.”
A trickle of power flowed from inside him, and Max immediately knew what Bob had done.
Death Magic?!
It is the only way I could do what I just did.
His mother’s eyes twitched, and she let out a small groan. Max could sense his father and sister shifting, each of them drawing closer to the bed.
“Maaax?” his mother got out, her voice weak. “Is… is it really you?”
“It’s me, Mom,” Max said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “I’m here. I beat the tower. I came back to tell you I love you.”
Her head tilted toward him, the eyelids slowly opening as they broke the small mucus that had hardened over them. A wet washcloth was put on them gently by his sister, and when she removed it, Max saw his mother staring at him.
“My boy… it can’t be… is this a dream? You haven’t aged.”
“No, Mom, it’s me,” Max said, leaning close and gently brushing her hair with his hand. “The gods were kind. They let me come and say goodbye. To tell you I’m okay and that I love you.”
He leaned closer, kissing her head before whispering in her ear. “You have another grandchild. A girl. Miranna. She’s amazing, just like you.”
A small gasp came, and then his mother somehow smiled. “Oh, Max… my boy!” She tried to lift her hand, so Max helped her, bringing it to his face as she cupped it. “I miss your hair… such fine hair.”
Laughter filled the room as his sister, father, and Max all chuckled between the tears.
“It was good hair, but Tanila likes me without.”
“That’s good,” his mother said, voice weakening some. “Tell her… I always liked her… tell my granddaughter… to be… strong… like you…”
Max felt the life starting to fade from his mother. Her eyes struggled to stay open, and her lips opened and closed, her breathing becoming labored again.
I cannot do that again without drawing attention from the system.
Thank you, Bob… for more than I can ever tell you.
Max cried, squeezing his mother’s hand against his as she fell back asleep. Every part of him ached, and yet he felt like he had been blessed with something he never knew he needed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t force you to say goodbye,” Max whispered, kissing his mother’s hand. “I shouldn’t have let you have your way.”
“It’s okay, son,” his dad said. “She didn’t regret much… that was one of them. Her pride and her heart hurt too much to see you go. She was afraid you’d never return. Like the day they took you away from us.”
Max nodded and kissed his mother’s hand once more before slowly rising.
He turned and saw that his sister had the same problem he had right now. Both of their eyes leaked, and he grabbed her, pulling her close and enjoying the moment.
You need to hurry. I can sense something… It’s faint, but the system… It felt what I did.
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Max sighed, pushing his sister back, looking into her eyes. “I have to go. Like now. The system knows. I love you, sis. Thank you for taking care of them and for being the woman you are.”
She sniffed and nodded. “You can’t stay? See Callie? She—”
Max…
Bob’s word rang true. He felt a buildup of some kind coming toward them.
“I can’t… It’s coming, I have to go!”
He moved from his sister who held out a hand toward him but didn’t chase.
“I love you two. Always know that!”
[ System Travel - Planetary ]
He felt the portal take him, a presence of some kind growing larger as words came.
“I love you, son! Thank you for—”
The noise of a chair shifting was the first thing Max heard. The next was footsteps coming across the stone tiles. He opened his arms, turning, and felt Tanila press herself against him, meeting his embrace.
“What’s wrong, Max?” she asked. “Your face.”
He nodded and sniffed, knowing she would be waiting for him in their room. “Long story but a good one. Can we sit? I need a moment.”
***
Tanila continued to run her fingernails against his scalp. For all the power Max held and the creatures he had defeated, this moment was one he wouldn’t trade for the world. Lying against her chest, one of her arms wrapped around him, the other massaging his scalp, Max set himself for what was going to take place soon.
“I forget how fast time has flown by,” Tanila whispered. “Just the other day, our Star was born. Now she’s supposed to enter the last dungeon before she and the rest of her group enter the tower. Can you believe it?”
Max nodded. “I can. For a little bit, I wished I had more time to stay there and talk. To see my niece and her children. Even to talk to Caleb… what a story that must be. Yet now, I realize it’s better I didn’t. What I need to focus on is this world and everyone on it.”
He sat up slowly, smiling at her as he shifted on the bed. “You and I are forever. Our daughter is forever. Those crazy other five gods in our world, they’re ours forever. Even Jazzjak, I hope, is forever.”
Max cleared his throat and then shook his head. “What we have to realize, though, is our people aren’t. At some point, Edward and Lanyra will pass away. Each of those we help will suffer the effects of aging and death. No matter what we do, we cannot forget that time passes for them differently than for us. Out of the party we helped build for Miranna, only Shale Spark and Vraxion will live long enough lives to be with her for any real amount of time.”
“So how does that change you?” Tanila asked. “How does that change us ?”
“It doesn’t change us,” Max replied. “It changes how I start to see the bigger picture. Bob and I discussed it, and Jazzjak tried to help us understand. Even Sog kept reminding us that we’re not thinking in the right terms of time. What we’re facing is beyond our understanding. To know that Phaius and Ockrim are both over 500,000 years old makes me wonder how old some other gods are. How do I… we… compete and go against that? What kind of power do they have?”
Max pulled out a piece of paper and then a book to set it on. Next came a pen, and he made a tiny dot in one corner. Then he spent time filling in half of the other side of the page with ink.
“We’re the dot. One of those other gods is on the other side of the page. When Yukoreek killed me, it wasn’t even close. I’m not sure I could have drawn blood. Only now do I really start to see it. Listening to Ockrim and Phaius talk about spending all those years together gave me hope about us and our friends doing the same. It also told me that we need to start thinking bigger and longer.”
“So what’s your plan?” Tanila asked. “I mean, besides all the stuff you, Bob, and Jazzjak already came up with.”
“It doesn’t change the plan, but more of the way we carry it out and why we do it. I hate to say it, but I was a fool going to that world and trying to save the people there. It was a bad decision. Had I gone instead to fight and keep what is mine would have been a better reason.”
“But you would have lost,” Tanila said, frowning.
“I would have, but the reason would have been better. I can’t save everyone. I couldn’t save my mother. Let’s say I saved those hawk people in the world and a disease came and killed them anyway. Was the risk worth the gain? The answer would normally be no. I need to change how I look and assess things because as of right now, this world and you all are my main focus. I’ll do what I can to hold on to the planets I get DP from but unless the risk is worth it, I’ll try to be less reckless for the next thousand or so years.”
Tanila chuckled and smiled at him. “Seems you’re getting smarter. And who would believe that Fowl was going to bet otherwise?”
***
Jazzjak’s foot tapped on the stone floor as he stared at the numbers for a third time.
“Will it work?” Max asked. “I mean… I’m not sure I can get them there.”
“Not on just this world alone,” Jazzjak replied. “Where this planet sits now DP income-wise and adjusting slightly for the increase over time, they’ll only earn 700,000,000 DP in the next two hundred and fifty years.”
“Which leaves them 1,200,000,000 short of tier five,” Max grunted. “How do we bridge a gap that big? I mean… I know how, but they would have to risk everything when the opportunity comes.”
Jazzjak nodded, his fingers tapping on the tablet, the frown that had been present lessening slightly. “So… they have two options. They can currently bet a maximum of 20,000,000 DP, as they are at tier 2. If they reach the next tier, the amount they can wager is 80,000,000. That will give them a chance to risk more, but it’s still not enough. Especially when we consider you are only able to challenge two more times before the three-hundred-year period expires.”
“Which means a tougher opponent where the odds aren’t in my favor?” Max asked.
“Yes… which also means you would have to seek out someone that no sane god would bet on you, thus creating a more favorable betting risk. That does mean you would also be putting yourself at risk of actually losing.”
The risk versus reward.
I am curious about what kind of god he thinks we might face who could create such odds.
Max nodded, frowning to himself as he considered the options before him.
“Would that god need to be the first fight or the second?”
Jazzjak grimaced and shrugged. “If you face them first and win, you’ll never get good odds again, and you’ll most likely never get challenged by another. If you face a weaker god and win, you might see a few more challenges.”
Max nodded, doing math again as he tried to consider how he could get his friends where they needed to be in the next two hundred and fifty years. “Make me a list of both options. We’ll keep coming back to it. It’s not like we’re in a hurry or anything.”
Jazzjak snorted. “You’re learning, Max… you’re learning.”