Chapter 45: The Tactics for Managing Timequake

Liam ushered Kate into his new apartment, feeling self-conscious. Having invited her over to watch the Chronos raid with him, he’d spent the previous day cleaning and shopping. The fridge, normally quite bare, was filled with pre-prepared meals, salads, juices and drinks. On the counter between kitchen and lounge were several wooden bowls – he’d had to buy them from the nearby Dunnes Stores that morning – filled with crips and nuts. Really, it was like he was holding a party and not just having one visitor.

‘This is amazing Liam; what a view.’

The apartment complex was built alongside the canal and the large, wide window looked out over the water. This, above all, was the reason he’d bought the place and Liam was glad that Kate was impressed. It helped that the sun was setting and so the surface of the canal had a vivid orange colour.

Having dropped her bag by the couch, Kate walked over and stood at the window, and, after hesitating – should he offer her a drink first? – Liam joined her.

‘In another city, you wouldn’t have this view. Skyscrapers would be blocking the sun,’ Kate observed, looking up into a deep blue sky.

It was true, there were no buildings in Dublin taller than the block of flats that Liam had bought a residence in. Sixteen stories. His was on the fifteenth.

‘The view is the main reason I bought it. Plus it’s only fifteen minutes’ walk into town.’

‘It’s lovely, Liam. Well done.’

On the wall opposite the couch was a large screen and Liam saw the program switch to the RTÉ studio.

‘Oh, they’re starting. Let me…’ he hurriedly brought bowls of snacks to the low table in front of the couch. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Just a water please.’

‘Sure? I have soft drinks, ready-made cocktails, beers…’

Kate grinned. ‘It’s a bit early.’

Placing two large glasses of water on the table, Liam settled into his expensive couch and turned up the volume on the television.

Filling the screen was the cream-coloured desk of the television studio, along which was written: RTÉ Raid Special. As usual, the main anchors were a couple of smartly-dressed, middle-aged presenters. But when the camera pulled back from their opening remarks, their guest came into view: it was Aengus, wearing his monk robes.

‘There he is!’ Kate came to sit beside Liam on the couch.

‘He looks nervous, doesn’t he?’

‘Does he? I think he looks fine.’

The female presenter was speaking, ‘With us today is Aengus Nowak of the podcast of the same name and long-time group member with Lord Azanth. What can you tell us about the prospects for the raid?’

‘Hello Clare. Well, I think the raid has a fairly good chance of success, maybe sixty-forty. It’s going to be a lot more difficult than the raid against Syceus though, I’ve been close enough to Chronos to experience the strange way that time fragments and loops around him.’

‘Tell us more about that please Aengus,’ said the man.

‘Certainly. We’d been quest farming in the tunnels near the Hostelry of Eternal Darkness. My first feeling something was wrong came with a powerful sense of déjà vu. And then I saw myself about ten metres away. We all did. There was another Liam with another Lord Azanth in his Tupperware case and another Kate. Those two were politely waving to each other, but I had to laugh because my other self was acting the maggot and waving his arms around.

‘I found out later that we were in a timequake. Time had been ruptured and I felt giddy, like we were going around and around on a fairground ride. The other group disappeared and after we’d moved on, about ten minutes later, I saw my earlier self appear, standing where I had been. Just to see what would happen, I didn’t do any silly arm moves and instead bowed to myself.’

‘And what effect did that have?’ wondered the woman.

‘None at all that I could tell. But you wouldn’t want to think too much about the paradoxes, or it would wreck your head.’

‘Despite these challenges, you believe Chronos can be overcome.’

‘Well, it was done in the past and our generation has Mithelasin. I’m fairly optimistic, but as we saw with Earl Clarence’s first raid against Syceus, it’s always possible that the titan will have some unanticipated skill that throws off all our plans.’

The man now took over. ‘Speaking of Earl Clarence. You played a prominent part in his downfall­–‘

‘Hang on,’ for the first time in the show Aengus lost his stiff and formal pose, now leaning forward and gesturing with his hands. This was the younger brother that Liam knew. ‘Earl Clarence brought himself down. Don’t frame him as a victim. He’s the cause of our problems with the titans and he did all he could to prevent his crimes being revealed, including bullying and intimidation.’

‘Nice!’ said Kate and offered a fist for Liam to tap with his own knuckles.

‘Of course. And how do you feel about his fate? Shovelling unicorn manure on the Seventh Plane of Virtue for the gardens of the angels? Is that a suitable humiliation?’

‘There’s nothing humiliating about manual work like that. James Connolly’s father had a similar job in Edinburgh, going around the streets with a cart to collect the horse manure. I think Earl Clarence will be more humiliated by the new Panini card showing he’s been stripped of his Paladin class and is now a Level One Warrior with minimal stats. To be honest, I think he’s lucky not to be in prison somewhere, but at least the angels are keeping an eye on him.’

‘Cathal, we have Lord Azanth.’

‘Then let’s go live to Kerala and our reporter Roisín Goldsby. Hello Roisín.’

A night sky filled the top half of the screen and a dirty yellow the bottom as the camera faced towards the sea across a beach lit by spotlights. Present was Lord Azanth in demon form and it still took some getting used to: no matter how often his picture had appeared in Liam’s Instagram feed, the tall, horned demon seemed to be a complete stranger and not the erudite and supportive crisp Liam had become used to.

‘Hello Cathal, hello Clare. I’m here with Lord Azanth, looking confident with a large raid ready to go through the portal. You’re the raid leader, but you are only level twenty-five. Is that going to be high enough to survive the raid?’ The journalist tipped her teal RTÉ microphone towards Lord Azanth.

‘Life belongs to the living, but death belongs to us all. The consequence of my death for the raid might mean defeat. For me personally, it would not be particularly detrimental as of course there is a resurrection team standing by. Moreover, I do not intend to be close enough to be affected by the AE that we know about. Unless Chronos reveals a new skill – which is always a possibility – I believe I will survive the encounter,’ Lord Azanth drew a descending line in the air with a taloned finger, ‘but if we wipe, we’ll learn and try again.’

‘And what about the timequake effect? That’s going to be your biggest challenge isn’t it?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘What’s your plan to deal with it?’

‘When the impossible wave is unavoidable, you let it flow past you with minimal resistance. Imagine a suit of cards in perfect order. Two of clubs, three of clubs, through to the ace of clubs. To defeat a titan, a raid must move through the stages of battle as through the suit. Perhaps the titan will use a new skill as it falls to ninety-percent hit points: to manage the titan’s new attack needs the correct response. At eighty, a dozen allies of the titan might spawn, endangering our healers. These require a team ready to intercept them. And so forth.

‘With Chronos, the exact same events will take place, but the sequence will be randomised. Each card will be drawn and each moment in the battle will require the appropriate tactic. But we will experience them as randomised events. It will be hard to prepare ourselves. Will it be the nine next? The ace? My role – and that of my Chief of Spies should I die – is to recognise the moment and make the right call.’

‘Well, we wish you the best of luck with that. Thank you Lord Azanth and now back to the studio.’

Before the view changed, Liam heard a clamour from journalists who must have been gathered out of shot. Dozens of them were calling out questions. They fell silent after Lord Azanth raised both arms.

‘I gave Irish television this interview as a favour, in honour of my former group members. For the rest of you, I will not answer any questions… unless, that is, you wish to enter an exclusive relationship with me. In which case we will make a special, bespoke agreement.’ Lord Azanth’s stern expression softened with a slight, knowing smile. ‘You wouldn’t be the first writers to benefit from an agreement with me.’

‘He’s much more sinister now he’s not a crisp,’ observed Kate.

With the screen showing Aengus once more, Liam didn’t reply. In any case, he agreed with her, Lord Azanth the demon was a lot more fearsome than Lord Azanth the crisp.

It was exciting that his brother was on national television and seen as an expert player by millions of viewers. And still only fifteen. Looking at Aengus and feeling pride, Liam realised that their old relationship had changed forever. No longer was it a case of Liam looking out for Aengus, of Liam being a substitute parent. As a result of their adventures they had become equals. Liam had as much to learn from his younger brother as he had to offer him.

The studio was running through an appraisal of the strengths of the senior raid members, flashing up their character sheets and respectfully asking Aengus his opinion. On the whole his brother said nothing out of the ordinary, but when it came to looking over Lord Azanth’s character sheet, Aengus showed real enthusiasm. Having been asked whether Telepathy was a wasted skill in a raid situation, his brother shook his head.

‘Far from it. It is a really important skill. There are situations where communication is almost impossible and yet you need to co-ordinate carefully. Like the time we were fighting the sharks that guarded the pirate treasure. Without Lord Azanth being able to direct us, we would have been in a complete muddle, with heals going off together or not at all. Leading a raid is much more about alerting the participants about when and where to direct their efforts than contributing to damage.’

‘Good answer,’ said Kate. ‘Do you remember that fight?’

‘I hated it. That sense of being trapped. And the foul water.’

‘Yeah. I don’t think we should ever have to take risks like that again.’

‘Speaking of which,’ Liam looked away from the screen to find Kate’s blue eyes were on his. ‘What are you going to do next? You’ve probably gotten as many job offers as me.’

Kate nodded, ‘I’m going to finish my degree first though. I feel like a have to. The college has apologised to me and brought in new policies. I’d be letting down all the people trying to make it a better environment for women if didn’t go back.’

‘That’s great!’ Liam felt as though a weight had fallen from him. That he could float out to the blue sky beyond the window. ‘You’ll be in Dublin. I thought you might go back to Limerick.’

Patting him on the leg, Kate laughed. ‘I didn’t realise you’d miss me.’

‘Of course I would,’ Liam was serious. ‘We’ve been through so much together. And you were amazing the whole time. Totally dependable.’ A thought occurred to him but he couldn’t look at her as he voiced it. ‘I’ve a spare room. You could move in here if you wanted?’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’ Now he risked a glance and she was looking back at him, with eyes that told him her next words would be from the heart.

‘I’d love to. I feel the same about you.’