Debbie's stern facade cracked a little when she stood up straighter, brushed her hand through her curly black hair only for her hand to touch the roof of Tuliwyrm's mouth. She frowned and wiped her hand on her pant leg before hooking a thumb over her shoulder, "Could we talk outside?"

I shrugged and hopped out after her, "What's up?"

Debbie hesitated a moment considering the best way to proceed. "Have you noticed anything weird?"

"Not really, but I am not exactly great at picking out weird," I said standing next to the corpse of a dragon frozen in time. I looked at the army of goblins backing away from the remains of the ruined town.they were also frozen in time. I also checked in on my angel girlfriend standing next to a wounded robot bird. She waved at me.

I waved back.

"You haven't done anything that could upset reality have you?" Debbie asked. This was a question not an accusation.

I had just turned off narrator intervention for the fifty some minutes. Well, only for stories connected to mine. It occurred to me that I did not know what the definition for most of that meant. Given that Debbie and I were currently shooting the breeze it is possible that our stories may have some overlap, "Could you be more specific?"

"Some…thing has changed beyond the veil," Debbie added. She was being a little cagey.

"I did just kill a dragon using that knife," I offered.

Debbie shook her head, "Not that," She flicked the knife with her finger, "That knife was made to kill things. It works. Something else is happening. It is almost like a tectonic shift is starting."

That sounded like Empowered Critical may be messing up the afterlife. I still clung to the hope that I wasn't to blame, "Could you maybe give me some more concrete details?" Preferably ones that exonerate me.

"I am sorry, but I need to be a little coy. I don't tell anyone who hasn't crossed the veil about the other side," Seeing I was about to point out I had crossed the veil she continued, "And there is also stuff I don't talk about with tourists."

In this circumstance I was willing to answer to tourist. If possible I would like to have Debbie prepared to let me duck back out of the land of the dead should I end up there again, "I did just let a terrible fish monster get away. I worry that may have …consequences."

Debbie picked up on my word choice. She considered that. Another Debbie appeared and phased down through the ground. After a beat she said, "I don't think that is it either. Something bad might be waking up. Something that could upset the balance."

"The balance of?" I asked, feeling something inside me clench.

"Life and Death," Debbie confirmed. She could have done that in a way to make me feel stupid, but she was just outlining the stakes.

I frowned, "That's ominous."

Debbie nodded, "Yeah, I'm worried." The avatar of death was worried.

"That is upsetting," I mumbled.

Debbie nodded, "If you think of anything could you call out my name. Otherwise I should probably get back to Europe. Everyone is pushing hard before the peace talks." she paused. "Actually before I go, could you do me a favor?"

"What do you need?" I asked.

"Could you walk over to Celeste? The dragon's body is going to blow up when time starts." She explained as she started walking away from the dragon corpse.

I fell into step with her, "Are you altering my fate?"

"Nah," Debbie tried to push my shoulder, but she ended up knocking herself off step. "It wouldn't kill you. It would just hurt badly and I hate seeing anyone suffer."

"Thanks," I managed.

It was rare to see purposeful kindness. That meant something.

"Any time, See you later," She vanished back into the veil.

I felt bad withholding information from Debbie. She had been good to me. Not just that, I was all but certain she was just a good person. The dragon exploded like a beached whale. Chunks of gore rained down all around us. The smell was… indescribable. Bad doesn't do it justice. The stink was causing the water from the melted ice to boil. A white hot pillar of fire remained burning like a monumental road flare, or maybe a welding arc would be a better comparison. That may be what was causing the water to boil.

I was supremely glad to be out of the blast radius. To hell with burning. It was also time to move upwind.

Celeste put a hand on my shoulder, "You good?"

"Yeah, what about you?" I asked, her hands had blister on them

"Minor damage. Pinky is hurt worse than Angelica." She showed me "Are we going after the fish guy?"

I looked over my shoulder the fire was still going even as water from melted ice rolled into the sunken bowl of newly solid rock. I could probably punch a hole down into the Dark again, but then the water would flow and Elijah would probably be able to just ride the wave further away from us.

Also I knew better than to chase a horror movie monster into the dark. I don't care how many super sentai poses they did, they were still aberrant terrors. They killed hundreds in less than thirty minutes.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was a massive stroke of luck that neither the big fish nor the dragon decided to nuke the goblins. Then again the narrators were pretty clear that they wanted to have a bloody battle at the tower.

"I am going to save the time I have then. I'll talk to you later. Stay safe," Celeste quickly stepped close and kissed me, before the light faded from her eyes.

Angelica stepped back and punched my arm, "Did you one shot a dragon?"

"Yeah, I think it was close, the thing resisted most of the damage," I said, looking at the knife. "This thing is a doomsday weapon."

Angelica helped Pinky get to his feet. After confirming that the bird wasn't going to collapse, she turned to me, "It is pretty dangerous, but doomsday is a stretch."

I fell into step with her and Pinky, making our way to the convoy. "I did almost eighty-five-thousand damage." If you rounded up.

Angelica and Pinky exchanged a look. They clearly agreed that was a big number.

"Before or after damage reduction?" She asked.

"Before," I sighed. Even if she wasn't impressed I still thought it was a lot. Then again I didn't know things. For example, how does food work?

Angelica shook her head emphatically, "Then that knife isn't a doomsday weapon."

"It can do more damage. I only put a thousand MP into the attack."

Angelica and Pinky exchange another look. They seemed to be working out if I was serious. I was pretty sure they realized with some concern I was.

"That isn't really a standard amount of MP most folks casually throw around." Angelica pointed out. Before I could argue she pressed on, "Ignoring that you can, how do you overcome the main design flaw?"

I blinked, "What flaw?"

"Let me demonstrate," Angelica said. She pushed me over away from Pinky. She kept pushing. Eventually I was a good ten yards away. She zipped back to walking next to Pinky. She then poked lamely in my direction with her spear. She kept doing that as she missed me by a huge distance. With each failed attack she said, Do... You... See... The... Limit... Of… Melee... Weapons?"

I considered the dragon flying around and how its breath attack could hit hundreds of targets at once, "I see your point, but why did you have to push me? Couldn't you have just stepped back?"

"No," Angelica said quickly.

Pinky also shook his head.

We were nearing the convoy. Now that the fighting seemed to have stopped. A lot of the people had gotten off the buses. This meant thousands of people were milling around. That isn't to say no one was busy. Scouts were setting up a perimeter. Mechanics were trying to fix damage on the fly. A bunch of folks were handing out food and drink. It was loud, chaotic and alive. Most people were very happy to be alive.

Except at the front of the convoy. Things were quiet there. Toad and Nanny Shank were overseeing the work. The dead had been gathered there. It was a stark sight seeing them laid out in twenty-six rows by twenty-five columns. Debbie had told the truth the gaps in a few spaces meant six hundred and forty three goblins had died.

About a dozen goblins were walking down the rows. One was documenting who had died. Others were stripping the bodies, taking any and all gear that could be used. Then another equally grim goblin was decapitating the bodies.

De-cap and ash, was what someone said earlier.

The first time I saw the remains of dead goblins I had mistaken them for humans. As dark as this was, people were tending to the dead. Again seeing them in such a state drove home the point that these were people.

Nanny Shank puffed on her pipe. She nodded to me as I approached, "Doug. Stand vigil with me."

I stayed quiet. I just stood with the old goblin. Angelica and Pinky stayed close but hung back. Brand and Aiko joined them as well.

"The casualties were less than I feared." Toad said. It was more a statement of fact.

"Let's see where the night takes us before we celebrate," Nanny Shank countered.

"What about the injured?" I asked. I dreaded the answer.

I saw Brunhilda and Sunit across the way. Both looked at the proceeding in grim stoicism.

"Not that many. These things didn't really leave injured. Something in their attacks caused damage over time," Toad explained, "Anyone below rare scale that took a solid hit…"

I nodded. "Do we need to make funeral arrangements?"

Nanny Shank coughed and spit out a wad of bloody phlegm, "No." She took another puff before continuing, "Mourning the dead is a very personal thing. A mass funeral is not a goblin idea. It is tradition for any goblin that leaves the group to be considered dead. It is a joyous thing to see them again. It is easier in most cases to be pleasantly surprised when someone comes back. Plus it makes us think things through, be more circumspect."

They were going to send tens of thousands with me.

That is not quite true. They were going with Toad and Philip. Helen and Grimset were also in charge of things if we were exact. That didn't change the weight I felt. I wasn't so far up my own ass that I convinced myself the dead were my fault. The Ictheys had killed them. I knew that. I also understood that the world we lived in was phenomenally unsafe. There was no guarantee that any of the dead would be alive if they hadn't followed me.

I still felt responsible. Even if I could hand off the obligation of leadership by being a figurehead, I was the muscle here. I should have protected them better.

How I don't know? But as I watched the others pile the bodies and prepare the pyre, I felt it in my very core that I should have stopped this. I killed Tuliwyrm in one hit. I just had to quit fucking around. Elijah and the Ictheys in general seemed to be made of more resilient material but I hesitated to really try and kill them.

Perhaps I needed to be more proactive…

…but how can a square that without letting violence become the easy answer? I was dangerously close to quoting Nietzsche already. Nadia's words from my first moments of life popped into me head, Don't fuck with a Narrator by the way. They are just trouble, and they will get the people around you killed… often in terrible ways."

I gazed at the dead. All of my friends were fine… for now. Grace's statement that I would win at the tower because Brand needed to get back to England, meant bad things for Richard. The implication was Angelica and Celeste might be in trouble as well. Last but not least Wilson kept pointing out the battle at the tower was going to be bloody. A number of the goblins around me were meant to die, at least according to the Narrators.

It all swung back to the Narrators. They weren't exactly the source of all of our problems. Tuliwyrm and Grond were not exactly unheard of in the world that was. Hell even, Adora's brand of hateful coercion wasn't without precedent, admittedly more among the men of privilege but it existed. The system then much like the System now insulated them from consequences.

The pyre was lit. we weren't alone anymore. Funerals may be private but hundreds of the soldiers had gathered with at least a thousand more other goblins joining them.

In the flickering light I realized us players killing each other was the waste Elijah claimed it was. The System needed to die. The Narrators were the embodiment of the System. I would keep trying to get them to turn on each other. I was almost there. But if that didn't work, I would kill them.

I could turn off the system for an hour a day. I needed to do that more. Activating it in the conference room kicked me back to the world, but what if I triggered it when they wandered down here…

It would be risky, but it was an idea.

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