The elevator opened and Troy stepped out into a white hallway. A large sheet of dark glass ran the length of it. He could barely make out the shape of a huge hangar beyond and an assortment of things on the floor. The phoenixkin stretched his feathers in the cool air, taking a deep breath as he surveyed the sterile environment.
Behind him, Old Man Dolan stepped out, using his cane. It seemed the old man was nearly exhausted as he hobbled over to a control panel near the long glass window and rested his hand against it. Troy’s talons clacked on the tiled floor as he paced, waiting for Dolan to catch his breath.
“Tell me, Troy. Have you ever wondered what other choices you could have made in your life?” Old Man Dolan panted.
“Yes.” Troy replied, idly preening on of his arm feathers. “All the time. But in the end, I figure it doesn’t actually matter, does it? I chose to listen to the wrong people, and here I am.”
“Perhaps.” Dolan nodded. “Though perhaps not. At least, not the way you think. I’ve seen many different timelines, you know. It ages me. I was only twenty-four when I first obtained the Book and through my own folly actually ended up in my mid-thirties before I was warned of the consequences of my Book’s use.”
“You were warned,” Troy said slowly. “But, you’re, like, 90 now.”
“75. Yes.” Old Man Dolan pursed his lips. “I used to play a game involving cards. You had a health counter-each player had twenty health. There was a saying. ‘Only your last point of health matters’. I tend to follow that wisdom.”
“But…”
“If I win, what does my age matter? What is Time to an immortal god?” Dolan asked. “All of this,” He gestured at the walls of the hallway and to the casino above them, “Was created for that purpose.”
“I’m not going to stop you. Have at it.” Troy shrugged.
“But you’ve tried. Many, many times.” Old Man Dolan flicked a switch.
The darkened glass that lined the hallway became transparent in an instant. Lights flickered on in the hangar. The rows and rows of figures stored within were fully revealed.
Troy gasped.
It was all him. Versions of him, at least. Hundreds-no, thousands-all crammed within the giant underground hangar. All of them frozen in time. Most of them were not phoenixkin, most were human or anthro, but there was a version of himself that was a car and one that was a dinosaur.
“Yes.” Old Man Dolan spoke from Troy’s side. “All of them were versions of you.”
“B-but we were the first-”
“That I allowed into the casino.” OMD gestured. “The rest I ambushed and collected. This is just the Troy chambers. I have rooms for the others as well.”
“This is why you’re 75 years old?”
“I needed to whittle down your numbers. The idea that there are infinite amounts of you is a bit ridiculous. I mean, sure, there are, but the ones who walk through the casino doors are rolled into one entity.”
“So, I’m not just phoenixkin Troy..?”
“Oh! No, my boy, you are special in that regard!” OMD chuckled. “You have noticed you’re the only phoenixkin, yes? You’re a Prime.”
“I still don’t get that.”
“All of these Troys.” OMD gestured to the hangar. “If I took their Books and left the casno, they would disappear, because our realities aren’t close enough to matter. That was hard-won knowledge.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one who wins most of the Books and just waltzes in. Your timeline is my best shot at winning. None of the others are so foolish.”
“It wasn’t my idea, it was Xarxos.” Troy clakced his beak angrily. “I told him I din’t want to do it!”
“And that’s the oddest part. Confronting me in my own casino…is the only way you ever have a chance to win.” OMD smiled. “He was never wrong.”
“He’s a monster!”
“Ah, yes, you’re repeating the bending of the truth I told the rest of the Dolans.”
“What?” Troy stared at Dolan. “No, I saw it! They saw-”
“Whatever I wanted them to see.” OMD shrugged. “I’m the Prime of this world. Not the one you know of as Prime Dolan. He’s actually the Prime of Todd’s universe. Very confusing, I know. We’re so close that it really didn’t make a difference.”
“Is that me, then?” Troy pointed a talon at a version of him that was actually a dragon.
“Yes!” OMD cackled. “Oh, they came in while I was dealing with the Book of Arcane and started fighting in the lobby. Easy enough to partition that section from Time. Few randos got caught in the Time Stop, and Arcane got away with the Books, but…”
Troy stared at the Minotaur, frozen in Time.
“Wait, how is Other Xarxos here?” Troy pointed upstairs. “He just ruined everything up…Stairs…
“Now you see. With all the Books, Arcane changed their form and enlisted Todd and Mark to take me out.”
“Other Xarxos…” Troy whispered. “Oh my gods, Todd doesn’t even know! Even if he wins-!”
“Arcane wins. Yes.” Dolan shook his head.
“Ok. Ok, that’s…terrible, I can figure that out…but I have to ask.” Troy turned to Dolan and pointed at another figure. “Why am I a car in that reality?”
“ Everyone’s a car in that reality, Troy.” Dolan shrugged. “That’s the car reality. No ozone layer.”
“Weird.” Troy whispered, staring at Pord Faurus Xarxos. “So did you send me down here to gloat?”
“In a sense. It’s not fun, winning, if no one knows the how or why of it.” Dolan shrugged and pressed another button. A giant orb rose form the floor. “Let me show you the Truth. And it all starts...well, three days from now.”
“The deadline?” Troy blinked.
“Precisely. There’s a reason we need to defeat you and take your Books by then. And by we I mean me.” Old Prime Dolan waved a hand over the orb and a scene began to play out.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
MEANWHILE:
Todd, now a Raijū, was about to leave to defeat Prime Dolan.
“Wait, Todd, don’t go-!” Feng tried to stop the anthro Raijū, but with the sound of thunder, the new anthro was gone in the blink of an eye. “-shit. Shit!”
“Why are you so upset, Feng? Bro’s going to go take out the trash.” Xavier smirked, the deer crossing his arms.
“Do you really think I didn’t consider the Raijū form as a possibility?”
“Yes.”
“No. I didn’t use it because, ultimately, being that fast doesn’t matter. If he misses just one of the Dolans, he’ll get hit by a Time Stop. Letting them play their little games was the best idea, because they at least have to play by the rules.” Feng sighed. “If this were a regular fight, we’d win automatically. But it isn’t.”
“Whatever.” Xavier rolled his eyes and leaned against a wall. “Let’s talk about Troy. We really gotta do something about punishing him for fucking us over.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Mark asked. “He fucked you over because you keep doing shit like this.”
“I…guess I can see both sides, but really we have more pressing issues, Mark.” Feng rubbed his eyes with his claws. “We have to get him back either way.”
“Why? So you can use him again? What’s he gonna be this time, bait, a pet, a toy? Do you really care about him, Feng?” Mark snarled, poking Feng in his lovely Italian suit.
“Of course I care about him.” Feng brushed his suit, scales glowing gold in anger, though it did not show in his face. Mark took a step back. “I’m also trying to save all of you too. That’s a tall order. What I’m concerned about is that he’ll exhaust his powers.”
“What do you mean, ‘exhaust his powers’?” Marks asked.
“When you use up your…mana or energy or chi or via casting spells with the Book, you become much more susceptible to spells and reality warps. Like Rover over there. He must have used all his powers-judging from the state of the magician’s auditorium-and whatever he was before is gone now.” Rok replied.
“Just tell me what he was and I can change him back. It’s simple. He doesn’t have to be a pet.” Mark pointed at the Dormarch. The little dog/seal/fish thing whimpered and clutched tight to Feng’s chest.
“Doesn’t work like that, bud.” Feng replied. “You’ll change him, but his fundamental nature has likely changed as well. He’ll never be himself again.”
“So, what, there’s nothing we can do?” Mark looked around at Xavier, Rok and Feng. “This is terribe!”
“Other Xarxos can save him. Your Xarxos, as they appear to be in possession of the Book of Arcane.” Feng replied. “Which is another issue we’ll have to deal with.”
“Okay…so, wait, we got off topic.” Mark pinch his nose. “What does that have to do with Todd?”
“He’s in a brand new form.” Rok replied. “His powers will likely get used up-you know, his natural energy-because stopping time itself is likely quite energy-consuming. So his form will begin to draw on the energy that powers all his spells from the Book. When that source of energy runs out, he ends up as vulnerable as…well, whoever that Dormarch was.”
As Mark contemplated the ramifications of Todd’s new form, there was a beeping from Feng’s pocket.
“Someone’s calling you.” Mark pointed.
Feng pulled his tablet out of his pocket. The one he’d gotten when he entered the casino, he realized. He flicked it on and stared as a hologram of Prime Dolan appeared in the air above the tablet.
“You think you’re all so smart and clever. I haven’t even started fighting back.” Prime Dolan spat, face twisted in a visage of pure fury. “Right now, the other Dolans are destroying your friends.”
“Really?” Feng smirked and bit back a chuckle. “Rex, show him the Books.”
The anthro Tarrasque grinned and dug out the three Book combinations and held it up to Prime Dolan’s face.
“I believe that’s the end of Robo Dolan, Mind Dolan, and Myth Dolan, or whatever you called him.” Feng said smugly.
“What the fuck?!” Dolan’s face twisted from anger to terror. “No matter! I’ll make sure you all suffer. Especially you, Feng. Your time grows short! You have until tomorrow night to win. Then I will erase you all from existence!”
The others appeared taken aback by Dolan’s sudden anger. Feng, however, appeared to take it in stride. In fact, he was smiling.
“Of course. I take that as a challenge. But you and I both know that’s not why the time limit moved forward, is it?” Feng smirked.
“What do you mean, boss?” Rex whispered.
“Oh. I see. That’s how it is.” Rok murmured to himself and nodded.
“Well if you know what the hell he meant by that, tell me!” Xavier snarled.
“There’s a reason they have so many Dolans and why they don’t use their powers very often.” Feng said. “Because they use most of their power each day keeping the place intact.”
Rex and Mark appeared surprised. Xavier snorted and rolled his eyes. Rok was staring at Dolan while Feng spoke and the man’s reaction to Feng’s guess was all the proof he needed.
“Why the games and the chips? That would cost a lot of energy to maintain.” Mark replied.
“Sure, the initial investment would be substantial but look at the payout. Time and reality absorbed by the Dolans more than makes up for it. However, without more Books, the costs exceed the power, so it’s drawing from all the Dolans. It’s a gamble. They either win or lose completely.”
“Shut your mouth! I’ll show you power.” Dolan pointed at Feng and mouthed something.
Feng shivered and tasted copper on his tongue.
His well-defined muscles began to soften and diminish as his beard tendrils grew longer. Wrinkles appeared on his face as memories of being oldest myth in Myth City filled Feng’s mind. The horns on his head grew longer, adding a few more branches to the grand, bony structure.
Feng burped as his Italian suit started to stretch over his brugeonin gut, pecs sagging heavily. Soon a very old, very fat kirin stood where a young, fit one had moments ago. The new, DILF-y Kirin took stock of himself, confused, then looked up and stared at Dolan. The Irishman appeared incredibly exhausted by the spell. Then Feng began to laugh.
“Did you attempt to age me to death?” Feng grinned and rubbed his protuberant gut. “My dear boy, I’m an immortal Myth! Making me ‘older’ merely makes me stronger. You would know that if ED Dolan had trusted you at all, but clearly he didn’t.”
“You aren’t going to win! No space or time will be safe.” Dolan growled. “You will be alone for the rest of time!”
“Really? Because the Book of Divination is showing me your future.” Rok interjected, the cyclops tapping the side of his head. “You will most likely be frozen in place, defeated and humiliated.”
“And what do you think happens to this place?” Dolan panicked. “You think all these people will be just fine? Without me, who will maintain the casino, idiots?”
“That’s…a good point.” Mark conceded. “Todd’s not going to know that.”
“It won’t matter.” Feng smiled at Dolan. “I challenge you to a game.”
“Why would I accept your challenge? I have Troy. Surely you wouldn’t leave him to our…tender mercies.” Dolan smirked.
“Have him. We both know he not useful to me anymore.” Feng replied, pulling out a pipe and smoking it.
“You sonofabitch!” Mark yelled and attempted to punch the old dragon, but the burly Tarrasque, Rex, grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
“Cold.” Dolan shook his head. “Fine. What do you propose?”
“Simple. There’s only two people that matter right this instant. Myself and the creator of the casino.” Feng spoke softly, blowing a puff of smoke. “So I propose an actual war. My allies versus yours. You beat me, you win all our Books. I win, I get yours.”
“Why would I want to play this game?” DOlan asked, perplexed. “I can figure out a way to take you out some other way.”
“For one thing, you aren’t going to be doing well in a few moments. For another, Todd’s going to run out of energy, which gives you a fighting chance.” Rok spoke. “He is giving you a way to win. Not sure why he’d do that.”
“Because I never planned on having you or Todd here. It heavily skewed events in my favor.” Feng replied. “So, what’ll it be?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Dolan spat angrily. “You truly are a monster.”
“Hmm. I suppose I am.” Feng shrugged. “But I’m playing the game as I see fit.”
“I will send every Blank at you.” Dolan replied. “You aren’t going to win.”
“Perhaps.” Feng tapped his pipe and grinned. “But I bet I’ll win.”