The elevator doors opened, revealing a rather lavish-looking office. Leading from the elevator was a red carpet that stretched all the way to the large wooden desk in the center of the room. Along the left wall were large glass windows that looked down at the casino below, allowing whoever was in the office to observe whatever was going on. Mounted on the right wall was a large TV that showed the views of various security cameras around the casino.
Todd and Mark looked around the office in awe, though Xarxos was staring straight ahead at the man sitting in the chair behind the desk. It didn’t take long for Todd and Mark to notice him as well.
“Welcome, my esteemed guests,” The man said, standing up and approaching the three foxes. “It’s such a pleasure to have you here.”
“You can drop the nice guy act, Dolan!” Todd shouted, holding the Book of Transfiguration close to his chest. “Let our friends go!”
“Hold on a second!” Dolan shouted, putting his hands up. “I’m not trying to hurt you! I just want to talk!”
“He’s lying,” Xarxos said sternly, shaking his head. “He wants you to lower your guard so he can steal your book and merge it with his.
“While I will admit that I do want to obtain your book, I’m not interested in that right now,” Dolan said. “Instead, I would like to give you a tour of my establishment and allow you to have a good time. After all, it’s no fun if I just take your book here and now without any challenge.”
Todd looked to Xarxos, and the muscular fox just shrugged his shoulders. “It seemed like most other versions of him were giving tours to guests, so why not?” Todd turned back to Dolan and gave the man a nod.
“Excellent!” Dolan said. “Before we begin, however, there is something I would like to give the three of you.” The man opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out three sets of nine poker chips. He picked them up and approached the trio, and Todd readied himself in case Dolan tried anything funny. Instead, the man stopped in front of them and handed Todd the three sets of poker chips.
“Three spare sets of your Mind, Body, and Soul chips,” Dolan explained. “Should you lose all three of your chips, you each have three spares which will revert you back to your original forms.”
“So what’s the catch?” Mark asked, eyeing the chips suspiciously. “There’s no way you’d give us an out in case we lose a gamble, let alone three.”
“The ‘catch’ is that there isn’t one,” the man said. “You’ve piqued my interest by being here in this casino.” Dolan strode past the group towards the elevator. When he thought he was out of earshot, he muttered “After all, there are very few versions of you left in the multiverse, Mr. Todd.” Unfortunately, Todd heard him.
“Hang on…what do you mean by that?” Todd asked, watching as Dolan entered the elevator.
“Hmm? Is something the matter?” Dolan asked, feigning ignorance.
“You just said something about me and the multiverse, didn’t you?”
“No, I said nothing of the sort.”
Mark put a hand on Todd’s shoulder. “It’s probably nothing, hun,” he said, giving the fox a kiss on the cheek. “Let’s just…see where this all goes, okay?”
“Okay…” Todd replied, watching Dolan closely. While neither Mark nor Xarxos seemed to have heard what Dolan said, Todd was certain that the man said something about there being “so few versions of him being left in the multiverse.” What did that even mean? For now, the fox chose not to dwell on it. He stepped into the elevator with Dolan, Mark, and Xarxos, hoping that he wasn’t making a huge mistake.
-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-
The elevator opened and revealed a floor filled with numerous physical activities. The trio could see wrestling, sumo, and kickboxing rings. Off in the distance, they could also see a rather advanced-looking VR machine with the words “VIRTUAL HORSE RACING” printed on it.
“This is the Body floor,” Dolan explained. “Here, you will find a wide variety of physical activities for you to wager your Body chip. However, if I were you, I would be very careful with which activities you choose. This floor is mostly designed with those who are in peak physical condition in mind, but don’t let that dissuade you from trying!”
“Horse racing, huh?” Mark said, eyeing the VR machine. “Wonder what that’s about?”
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Dolan warned. “Unless you want to become a horse. Shall we continue?” The man led the three foxes up a nearby escalator to the next floor.
There wasn’t a lot on the second floor, save for the two large competitions. The first was a maze-running game. The maze run advertised itself as a way for competitors to test their agility, cunning, and wits. The second was a tactical war game that could advance through different eras, essentially requiring you to be a master tactician in order to win.
“This is the Mind floor,” Dolan explained. “As you’ve probably already guessed, the challenges on this floor test your intelligence, cunning, and your wits. If I had to recommend any floor for you three personally, I’d recommend this one. No one is more sly and cunning than a fox.”
“Well, I have played Burning Crest: Three Clans,” Todd said, eyeing the strategy game. “What’s on the next floor?”
“I’m glad you asked!” Dolan led the three up the escalator to the Soul floor. There were various competitions based on arts, like cooking, painting, sculpting, singing, dancing, and much, much more. There was even a magic competition that they could bet or participate in, but they could also just watch if they desired. The sheer level of talent that the people on this floor possessed was enough to make Todd’s head spin.
“Finally, we have the Soul floor,” Dolan said. “This is the floor where you can compete in activities that you pour your soul into, like cooking or painting. Quite fancy, eh?”
“This is all so much to take in…” Todd said, looking around at all the various attractions. “I…I don’t know if I’d even be good at any of these.”
“That’s the point, Todd,” Xarxos growled, rolling his eyes. “You’re not supposed to be good at any of these. Everything here is just a trap designed for you to gamble away your chips and become a slave to the casino or your opponent.”
“If I wanted you to lose right off the bat, I wouldn’t have given you three sets of spare chips,” Dolan remarked, sounding a bit annoyed. “I could’ve easily just let you wander in here naively and bet all your chips before taking your book. If anything, you’re the easiest target here, since you have all the books I need. Instead of fighting four people, I could just fight one and get everything over with much quicker. But I’m not doing that, am I? I’m showing you hospitality because there are so few versions of you left out there in the multiverse, and just getting rid of you would quite frankly be a shame.”
“That’s what you said earlier!” Todd exclaimed, getting him some weird looks from the people around him. “I knew I wasn’t hearing things! What do you mean by that?!”
“I mean what I said,” the man replied. “Most versions of you in other timelines didn’t make it very far. Hell, even the version of you from my timeline, the Prime Timeline, was taken out pretty early on, although you did make it a lot farther than most people expected, even your companions.”
“Wh-What does any of that mean?” Todd asked, stuttering slightly. He tried to stay calm and let Dolan think that he wasn’t getting to him.
“It means that in most timelines, you’ve simply been killed, captured, or just don’t get involved with these book shenanigans. In one timeline, you were turned into a bunny girl who was permanently horny and used as a sex slave for Sebastian’s troops. In another timeline, you were never turned into a Dragonborn, and you were left as a hippogriff until your intelligence eventually faded. In yet another timeline, your friends lost against Sebastian, and you were stuck as an endlessly cumming satyr statue. And then, there’s the Prime Timeline. In the Prime Timeline, you didn’t hold on to yourself when you were turned into a statue. You were mind broken after cumming for hours and hours. After that, you were whisked to the Fae World by your satyr friend, being endlessly fucked for all eternity.”
When Dolan finished, Todd shook his head in disbelief. There was no way any of that was real…right? Dolan was clearly just saying those things to fuck with him and mess with his head!
“I can see you’re a bit shaken up after that revelation,” Dolan said, smirking. “I don’t blame you. Most people would react that way if they found that the other versions of them died early.”
“Shut the fuck up, you lunatic!” Mark snarled, bearing his teeth at the man as he pulled Todd close to him. “Don’t you EVER speak to my boyfriend that way!”
“Explain to me right now why I shouldn’t fucking rip you apart, you sick bastard!” Xarxos added, ready to beat the living shit out of Dolan.
“Easy, easy!” Dolan said, putting his hands up. “I was only telling your friend what he wanted to know! He was the one who asked me what I meant, so it was only fair that I explain to him.”
“He…He’s right,” Todd spoke up, making Mark and Xarxos turn to him in shock. “Just…leave it be. We can’t do anything about it.”
“But…” Mark tried to protest before sighing in defeat. “Fine…”
“You got lucky this time, bastard,” Xarxos growled.
“I can see that I struck a nerve with you all, so let me try to patch things up.” Dolan reached into his back pocket and pulled out three tickets. “These are tickets to the magic competition between Akita and Deng-Long. They’re completely sold out, and you can’t get these anywhere else. Not only that, but they’re box seats, meaning you’ll have the best view in the house! The only caveat is that you’ll be sharing the box with another group, but I don’t think that’s much of an issue, now is it?”
Todd looked at the tickets for a second before hesitantly taking them from Dolan’s hands. “Thanks…I guess…” the fox said quietly. He spotted the auditorium where the magic show would be taking place and began to make his way over there, with Mark and Xarxos following close behind.
“Oh, I do have one request, however.”
Todd turned and looked at Dolan. “What?”
“You aren’t to tell anyone about the books in your possession. Do you understand?”
“Fine, I won’t tell anyone.” Todd didn’t bother to ask why Dolan wanted him to keep his books a secret. Frankly, he just wanted to get away from him as fast as possible.
Dolan smiled upon hearing Todd’s response. “Good,” he said. “I hope you three enjoy the show.” With that, Dolan walked away from the three foxes, vanishing into the crowd.
-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-
Todd pushed open the doors to the booth, finding that it was empty. In fact, most of the auditorium was fairly empty, save for a handful of people who were beginning to take their seats. The young fox sat down in one of the chairs, setting the Book of Transfiguration down in his lap.
“Hey Todd, if you want, I can make it so you don’t have to lug around that heavy book all the time,” Xarxos said.
“How so?” Todd asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.
“Try putting the book on top of your hand, think of a tattoo, then point at the book. That’s how I’ve been carrying around my book.” Xarxos pat the tattoo of a Greek symbol on his arm. Todd nodded in understanding and placed the Book of Transfiguration on top of his left hand. It hurt a little due to the book’s weight, but it was bearable. The fox then used his right hand to point at the book.
“Object.”
Instantly, the book became two-dimensional, etching itself into Todd’s skin.
“Woah, that’s cool!” Todd said, looking at his new tattoo. “It still works, right?”
“Yeah. Nothing’s different!”
Just then, the doors to the booth opened again. The three foxes turned their heads to see a group that made both Todd’s and Xarxos’ eyes widen. In total, there were four creatures: an anthro phoenix, an anthro Cerberus, a cyclops, and a familiar-looking minotaur. The Cerberus was holding a large bucket of popcorn and was in the middle of feeding a handful to his left head. The cyclops held a drink in his right hand, and the phoenix was holding a bag of popcorn that was much smaller than the bucket the Cerberus had. The four of them seemed to be in a conversation when they noticed the three foxes looking at them.
“Huh, guess we’re sharing a booth,” the Cerberus said, shrugging his shoulders before taking a seat next to Todd. “That wasn’t mentioned when we got our tickets.”
“We…uh…just got ours,” Todd said. “The owner, Dolan, gave them to us after giving us a tour of the establishment.” Upon hearing the smaller fox’s voice, the minotaur, cyclops, and Cerberus all turned their heads to look at him.
“Todd?!” the minotaur asked. “Todd is that you?!”
“Yeah, it’s me…” the fox replied nervously. “How are you guys doing?”
“Holy shit it’s actually you!” The minotaur quickly walked over to him and pulled Todd into a tight hug. “We haven’t seen you in so long! I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you in the maze! I shouldn’t have sent you in alone! I’m so, so sorry I failed you!”
“We’re from a different timeline, remember?” Rok spoke up. “He’s not the Todd from our timeline. Chances are he doesn’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“No, I’m perfectly aware of what happened in the Prime Timeline,” Todd responded.
“Dolan told him what happened to the other versions of him in different timelines,” Mark spoke up. “From what I can gather, our timeline is only slightly different from the Prime Timeline.” He looked over to fox Xarxos. “Didn’t that lamia receptionist say something about our timeline being a 0.02 deviation from Prime?”
The muscular fox nodded. “Yeah, that’s what she said,” the fox replied.
“This is all kinda hard to follow…” Rusty said, scratching his right head.
“I suppose this is something we can discuss a bit after the magic show,” Prime Xarxos said. “Right now, let’s just focus on the show. It should be getting ready to start soon.” Todd looked down and realized how packed the auditorium had gotten while they were talking. Almost every single seat had been filled by anthros and myths, though he could spot a human or two here or there.
The doors to the booth opened again, and a human, an elf, and a normal dog walked in.
“You’re lucky we got here in time, Troy!” the elf said, shaking his head in annoyance. “We almost missed the magic show!”
“I said I was sorry Mark! I had to use the bathroom!” the human replied. Both Phoenix Troy and Fox Mark turned their heads upon hearing their names.
“Are you other versions of us?” Troy asked, looking at the human who shared his name. The human looked at the phoenix, his eyes widening.
“Holy shit, I’m a phoenix in one timeline?!” Human Troy asked. “That’s fucking sick!”
“I have a dog in one timeline?” Phoenix Troy asked, looking at the dog. The dog wagged its tail and gave a happy bark.
“Yeah, he’s my service dog, Lancer,” Human Troy said, reaching down and petting the dog’s head.
Fox Mark looked at the elf, then over to Todd and Fox Xarxos. “Is he another version of me?”
“No, he’s a completely different Mark,” Fox Xarxos replied. “We can explain everything later. The show’s about to start.” Then, as if on cue, the lights began to dim.
-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-
“Man, that show was FANTASTIC!” Rusty said as they walked out of the auditorium. “Nothing like the magic shows I saw when I was a pup!”
“I’ll admit, it was pretty impressive,” Rok said. “Some of the tricks were pretty damn cool.”
“That kitsune magician, Akita, was amazing!” Todd said excitedly. “I can’t believe he made that illusion appear right in front of me! It was almost like I could reach out and touch it!”
“As much as I’d like to keep discussing the magic show, we really need to start working out our plan,” Prime Xarxos said. He then turned to Todd and asked “So what are you going to do?”
“Well, Xarxos suggested that we go and scout out the casino first before gambling anything,” Todd explained. “He’s making sure that Mark and I are safe.”
“I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to my little foxes,” Fox Xarxos said, wrapping his arms around the two smaller foxes and kissing their heads. Todd noticed Troy look away when Fox Xarxos kissed him and Mark. Had they done something wrong?
“It seems like our plans are similar,” Prime Xarxos said. “How about we meet up later and discuss our findings? That way, we can all cover more ground and see how to beat these games.”
“Sounds good to me,” Todd replied. “We’ll see you later tonight then.” With that, the two groups broke up, going in different directions to cover more ground.