(Previous chapter - Gauge defeats the Grand warden. He reveals himself to be Xerxes the former high judge of the universe. He regains a part of his soul.)
Xerxes sat on the ground exhausted. Gauge standing before him,
"Are you okay? what do you mean by He is building an army? you have to give me details..."
Xerxes lifts his head and gazes at Gauge. He strains a bit to get on his foot and explains,
"I only remember so much. I too have many questions. How and why he came to me. Why my soul specifically. His identity. I ll need more shards of my soul to recover more of my memories(pauses for a while looks at the duo concerned for him.) I apologize from taking your time. If you do not mind, I can use my powers to take you to your destination."
"That would be so helpful."
Feryx answered. Var looks at Gauge suspiciously, rubbed his temples and speaks,
"Gauge, You don't have to change your voice to female . Xerxes already agreed to help us."
A moment of silence. Both Gauge and Feryx start laughing. Var notices two distinct voices. One Gauge and the other unknown,
"Wait...If that wasn't you who was it ?"
Gauge stopped his chuckling. Pretends to be serious. Looks to the ground,
"It was my grandma. God rest her soul. She sometimes visits me from the afterlife."
Var was frightened he jumped onto Xerxes' large arms. Feryx continued to giggle from all prank. She speaks,
"That is quite enough Gauge. It was me Feryx who spoke right now. Gauge is simply having fun with you. Although I had my share of fun too."
Var was completely embarrassed. He looks up and gives an awkward smile at Xerxes who did not care much. He get down on the ground and brushes off ashes on his body. He responds,
"Gauge. One of these days I am going to kill you for sure. Now(He looks at feryx) who are you and how can you talk?"
Feryx responds to him
"It's easier to explain when we reach Rafter..."
Var sighs and looks at Xerxes. He was immersed in his own thoughts.
"Xerxes sama, Can you escort us to Rafter?"
Xerxes spoke not like a supreme god who once reigned the mortal plane but humble,
"Of course. Hold on to my arms..."
As he extends his arms to both of them. The duo hold on to it and then *zwoop*. The empty ashlands of Xerith, Now behind them.
Moments later
Stellar prime system - Rafter - One of the moons of Scaelith
All three land on bare area on Rafter. They fell face front on the cold surface. the white sands of the Rafter deserts. The large lifeless planet of Scaelith and the star of the stellar prime system - Asterion glowing in the sky. Var gets ups and shakes his head as he responds,
"What the hell happened? The gates did a better job at dropping us of.."
But Xerxes wasn't ashamed or embarrassed for it was not his fault. He gets up dusts off the colourless sands and responds,
"There is a powerful barrier protecting the City. Right now I am only 1/20 th the being I used to be. My current powers cannot force through such a strong barrier".
Gauge wakes up slowly. He notices a large Door in front of him. It was filled with intricate mechanisms and forged from advanced forms of metals. These are way different then the doors at my palace he thought to himself. Var then realized he was rude,
"I....I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing us so far."
Xerxes did not respond he only smiles. Var in his own mind, majestic but not arrogant, stoic but still humble. All three approach the large gate. A voice popped out of the gate
"Present City pass."
All three stood frozen. Nobody knew there was a gate, let alone they needed a city pass.
As they were about to lose hope, Var's riftcore received a notification,
Hey Zaden here. Just noticed my favourite customers landed on Rafter thanks to your riftcore. Here's a city pass. I forgot to send it the last time.
Note: It is a Gold pass, It can get you past areas normal passes cannot
1 Attachment
Var clicked it open
City pass for Var'zek and Mordan Gauge
Rank : Gold
Approved and signed by
Zaden, Riftcore centre- Xerith branch
They were grateful yet there was no pass for Xerxes. Var presented then city pass and planned asking the Voice where they could get one more.
"Welcome, Mordan Gauge and Var'zek...(After a brief moment of silence the voice spoke again) Welcome Your honorable Judge, Xerxes."
Var and Gauge were dumbfounded. Gauge thought This guy is famous huh?
The gate opened to reveal a scenario contradictory to the outside,
Zephyros the City of Knowledge. The most advanced Civilisation in the current existing universe. Tall buildings, levitating cars and trains everywhere.
Xerxes wasn't impressed as much.He mentions
"I've seen far more advanced civilisations fall."
Var was little amused to see Zephyros advanced than Vel kartha. But Gauge the most primitive being among the 3, looks at the trains and cars and asks,
"Cool. But where do they hide the horses."
momentary silence....Then a burst of laughter. Var, Feryx and even Xerxes smiled a bit. Gauge was standing clueless wondering What did I ask wrong?
Var wipes his tears off and suggests,
"Hey, There's a bazaar. Let's check it out. We might find clues where to head next."
Zephyros Bazaar
As they walked through the Bazaar streets of the city, Var remarked,
"This so much bigger than the Vel Kartha bazaar. A lot of stuffs available."
They notice a board saying,
Riftcore - Retail Shop
They walk up to the vendor - The vendor,
"Welcome humble customers. We sell latest models of Riftcore devices and updates to older versions of the ones you own."
Var is intrigued. He took out his own device and asks the the vendor,
"What about this one how old is this one?"
The Vendor received Var's riftcore and inspects it. A brief moment later he returns the device
"This one lacks the feature to measure Gate powers. That update was dropped since riftcore 5.0. This must be older than 5.0. If you like We could offer an update."
Var smiled with a nostalgic feeling and spoke to the other two,
"When I first brought the one I have, It was the latest model. How terribly old I am..."
He laughs and asks to the vendor,
"So, we are new to Rafter and we know nothing about the currency system of this planet.If it isn't a bother, could you enlighten us."
Gauge reminisced And here i just walked up to a merchant in a new planet and offered Azorian gold. Var really is wise. The Vendor nodded his head and started explaining,
"So Rafter uses one of the major currency systems in the universe; Synapse units and battle units."
Var simply nodded his head as he knew the diversity of currency system throughout the universe. He asks,
"How do I earn both of these?"
The Vendor was selling to other customers and turned back to them.
"Well, for Synapse u must use a IQ convertor while for battle units u need to fight in arenas and win prizes.Note that Value of battle units are less than synapse units. 1 synapse unit = 5 battle units."
Gauge notices a Riftcore watch and rushed to the vendor.The vendor was slightly startled but regained his composure.
"How much for this watch?"
His eyes sparkled. The vendor checked his digital price list,
"That costs 250 synapse units or 1250 battle units."
Suddenly all three heard sound of clashing. They turned around to find an arena with warriors clashing with each other.
Var and Gauge looked at each other and smirked. They knew they both had the same crazy idea....
Next chapter - Rafter Tournaments