“Wait!” Gray-hair called out to someone behind me.

I looked back, just in time to watch Sae disappear back through the entrance to the trial. I clenched my fist in frustration for just a moment, then released it. How long had it been? Gray-hair held a hand up and snapped his fingers, pointing to the doorway. A slim man in a tightly fitting suit stepped around Nick, who still held Jinny in his arms.

He squinted at the doorway, reaching up to adjust his horn-rimmed glasses. “Already collapsed. She must have squeezed through at the last moment.”

“So she’s dead now, too?” I asked blandly. A seething hatred roiled within me.

Gray-hair studied me, then placed his hands in his pockets. It occurred to me that he was mirroring my body-language intentionally. “No one knows what happens if you’re in one of these things when they collapse. Hasn’t happened to us yet.”

“It makes no difference to me.” I glanced down at Jinny’s body, then back to the trial with disdain. “Nick and I go back a ways. Only met the rest of them a few days ago.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick twitch.

“Ah.” Gray-haired studied me. “Daphne said you were reasonable, but I'm not certain I buy it. No one would blame you for being upset by what’s happened here.”

“Not really my thing.”

“Perhaps. I—“

“Cut the shit. None of us have time for it.” I interjected. I didn’t like gray-hair. He had the tempo of someone who was used to negotiating, dominated it. It was dangerous to let someone like that control the flow of dialogue. “The transposition event is imminent. Unless I’m totally off the mark, I’m guessing you have the same amount of information about that as us, which is approximately fuck-all.”

Gray-hair gave nothing away, but the uncomfortable shifting of the minions behind him told me all I needed to know. “That’s not what we’re talking about right now.” He said, in the same tone a teacher might use to correct a student for going off-topic.

“Maybe. But context is important. You obviously want Nick, considering what I just saw in the trial that’s not exactly surprising. It’s a powerful class, and capable of gifting User status to an NPC on top of all that. Thanks to dipshit over there,” I pointed to the bowman, “you’ve got an incredibly angry knight who’s only going to get more angry over time.”

He considered that, then opened his mouth. “What are you proposing?”

“Get him under contract.” I said immediately. “Have him sign an exclusivity clause with your merchant, like the rest of the recruiters. He’ll have to work with you to some extent then, even if he hates you.”

Gray-hair’s mouth quirked. “And he stays with you for whatever the transposition event is.”

Giving us enough time to figure out our next move.

“It would earn a bit of good will back from this clusterfuck, yes. He’s upset right now, but honestly, they were dating for less than a week. He’ll get over it. I’m assuming, whatever you need him for, it would be easier if he did it voluntarily. And I’m happy to give up the Page class after the event.”

Gray-hair smiled, and I realized I’d miscalculated. They didn’t care about the Page class. Whatever they were after, it was something else.

Horn-rimmed cleared his throat. “It would be far easier to integrate him with the rest of the court if—“

The responding blow came faster than I could track. One moment, Gray-hair was standing there, hands at his side, the next moment Horn-rimmed was prone on the ground, coughing up a lung.

A chill prickled gooseflesh on my arm. Gray-hair was in another league, playing an entirely different game. He smiled at me coolly. “Good help is so hard to find these days, don’t you think?”

Go fuck yourself.

Gray-hair turned to Nick. “Well, Ceaseless Knight? Your friend’s been speaking for you, but I’m much more interested in what you have to say. We’ll let him keep his class, let you stay with him for the transposition event, all by way of an apology. All you have to do is sign a piece of paper.”

I reached out to Nick with

“I know it’s hard. Just play along. Please.”

Nick laid Jinny down, gently, as if she was made of glass. Tears were still streaming down his face. His mouth was tight, his expression blank. He wiped his eyes. “We’ve… been closer, recently, but I knew Jinny for almost a decade. She helped me adjust to, uh, being a cripple. Never judged me. Always supported me.”

Fuck. I closed my eyes.

Nick raised himself to his full height, a head taller than me, and an inch taller than gray-hair. “Jinny was a good person. Far better than me.” His voice suffused with rage. “And if you… motherfuckers… think for a god-damn second I’m going to lift a finger to help you after what you did? You’ve got another thing coming.”

Nick leapt toward gray-hair, sword held over his head, his armor glowing much darker than before, closer to the tint of brass than gold.

It was over before it even started. A white loop of magic tightened around Nick’s neck, followed by a half dozen other loops that caught him effortlessly and forced him back down to his knees.

Moments later, the same loops of magic proliferated around my body, forcing me down.

“Pity,” Gray-hair said. He crouched down in front of me. “In truth, I would have much rather done this your way. Now I have to decide what to do with you.” He raised a hand and snapped his fingers again. “Check them both. And see if the girl dropped a core.”

Horn-rimmed approached Nick nervously, Daphne flanking him. “Definitely the class. Nothing particularly of note in his inventory…” he rattled off the various items Nick had in storage, jotting it down on a notepad.

Daphne leaned over towards me while Horn-rimmed worked. “Sorry, Matt. They only put me on this today. If I’d known it was you…” She trailed off.

I shrugged indifferently. “Not like you owe me anything, Daph.”

Daphne winced, glanced back towards Gray-hair, then took a step away.

“No core. Unfortunate.” Horn-rimmed shambled over to me, finishing up his notes from the others. “Page, as expected. Low level. Nothing particularly problematic here. Quick Crossbow of The Frost Leech, Broken Legacy, Chaos Spider’s Venom, Blade of Woe—“

“Blade of Woe?” Daphne asked, her expression puzzled.

“Gains additional utility when used from behind.“ Horn-rimmed rattled off the description.

“Didn’t Dorian have one?” Daphne asked. “He never shut up about it. It’s just weird, because with how many items there are, it’s the first time I’ve seen the same one twice.”

I tensed.

Horn-rimmed looked over his glasses at her. “It’s uncommon rarity. Does it really matter?”

Daphne looked about to follow up, then glanced at me with a thoughtful look. “I guess not.” She turned back to gray-hair. “No legendaries, no artifacts.”

Gray-hair waved her off, then studied me. “I’m tempted to kill you. It would be easier that way. Cleaner. Yet, despite your friend’s foolishness, I’d really like to avoid aggravating him further. Moreover, Daphne did vouch for you.” He grabbed my hair and pulled my head up. In an eerily monotone manner, he listed my full name, address, and the names of my mother and siblings. All-in-all, far more information than I expected them to have.

“If you interfere in any way? Well. Just use your imagination.” Gray-hair finished.

“I won’t interfere,” I lied.

He turned around, removing his hands from his pockets and summoning several of the Users waiting, indicating the two of us with a backward swing of his arm. “Use an instance to clean up the body. Take the knight. Put the page to sleep.”

I watched in silent anger as Nick was hauled away.

Something touched the back of my neck, and I lost consciousness.

/////

When I came to, both Jinny and Talia’s bodies were gone.

The ascending atonal wail of storm sirens filled the distance, accenting the profound sense of loss that radiated in my gut.

How long was I out?

I immediately pulled up the timer for the Transposition event.