Feng, formerly Xarxos, waited next to Xavier, his clone and, technically, also formerly Xarxos. It was all getting quite confusing, but Feng was confident that everything would sort itself out by the end of this strange adventure. One way or another.
In front of them, the whole Casino was going strong. They’d settled on the rules. Each side would be going ‘all in’-in other words, either his team cleaned out The House or Dolan beat everyone. It didn’t matter either way to Feng. All he was doing-
“What’s the purpose of this shit anyways? Why goad him into this?” Xavier asked, the tubby redneck deer was leaning against a craps table.
“To buy time for Other Xarxos to get here.”
“Why?”
“He’s Arcane in disguise.”
“...Well, shit.”
“No we just-” He paused as a loud OINK and BAA came from one of the far tables. Two losses. “…Just need to hope he loses to Arcane.”
“...How many fucking Book users are outside this Casino?”
“Just Arcane and Other Xarxos.”
“And we want him to LOSE?”
Feng nodded. “He’s got no Books beyond Arcane. She has Mind and Death. If he manages to beat her…or team up with her, we’re going to step outside into a killzone. If she wins, we have a chance.”
“How do you figure?”
“She doesn’t know who we are or what are tactics are going to be. Other Xarxos infiltrated Other Troy’s group, learned everything about them, learned all about how the Casino works…Arcane doesn’t have that knowledge. I’d much rather fight her.”
“What are the odds…?”
“I don’t know yet.” Feng crossed his arms. “He just used a Mass Dispel and a few Fireballs on Chawhee. Arcane is still fresh.”
“Which one is the more experienced fighter?”
“Other Xarxos is an ancient minotaur and has fought more Book users than she has.”
“Do you have any plans if he wins?”
“Yes.” Feng dug out his phone and carefully typed in Troy’s number. “I’ve got a call to make to clench our victory here.”
Xavier eyed him warily. “You’re going to win with just a call?”
“That’s all.”
“How?”
“Watch me.” Feng smiled and twirled one of his facial tendrils.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Other Xarxos struggled his way back to the Casino.
The big minotaur, who was now male, had successfully kept those stupid boys from fucking everything up. Now he had to go and Dispel the Casino itself, taking out the rest of the Dolans. True Prime Dolan would be a bitch to deal with if he didn’t remove his unlimited energy source.
That was the true nature of the Casino. Infinite energy generation. More importantly, with True Prime’s advanced age, the Casino itself kept him alive indefinitely as long as he did not leave it. But if things had gone as planned, that power was now running out. The fatal flaw of the infinite energy generator was that it required upkeep from the other Dolans. As soon as they started to fall, that was the end of True Prime.
Worse, if the forest that was rushing this way across the desert, Mary Anne was coming. And she was one overpowered psycho bitch. Not as powerful as Time or Myth, but with enough Books, her ability was game over for anyone caught in her Roaming Forest spell.
He rounded a corner to the Casino and instantly dodged and rolled to the left.
His reflexes saved his life as a bolt of lightning shot across the parking lot and struck the pavement where he would have been if he hadn’t moved. Footsteps clacked towards him. Other Xarxos rolled again, taking cover behind a parked car as gunshots rang out. The windows exploded, covering him with shattered glass.
Other Xarxos waited for her to run out of bullets, then rolled under the car and pointed.
“Bolt.”
An arc of lightning jettisoned from the tip of his finger. The figure running towards him juked to the right, the bolt of lightning hitting a truck, causing it to explode. She (Arcane) was thrown to her knees by the shockwave.
“Hello, Arcane!” Other Xarxos shouted.
“How did you know I would be here? How do you have my Book?” Arcane demanded.
She was a fit woman, young, with short cut blonde hair and taut muscles. Ashley wore athletic gear and a trenchcoat, where she was stowing her handgun. Other Xarxos saw a Bowie knife at her hip before the trenchcoat closed.
“I’m you from another timeline.”
There was a pause.
“Why are you helping them?”
“We both know when it comes to Time, the outcome is always 50/50. We need Troy to win.”
“Do we? Or do YOU need Troy to win?”
“Dolan knows his spells inside and out and THIS Time has Space as well, or the Casino wouldn’t exist in the first place.”
“Nature has Space and Dream in THIS world.”
“Other Dolan runs the Casino, not YOUR Dolan.”
“Either way, even if he wins, we still have to deal with her.”
“Mary Anne is insane but surely-”
“She’s hunting down Beast. She needs Beast to repopulate the forests she’s creating. Reality shifts don’t undo extinction.”
“Where is she?”
“Currently? Amazon.”
“Oh, repopulating the rainforest-”
“No, no. AMAZON. The company. She’s busy removing it from existence.”
“Oh.”
“The Roaming Forest is on its way here.”
“Roaming Forest?”
“She created a forest and used Space to simply teleport the spell around the country. It turns everything it engulf into a proper forest for the climate.”
“And the people?”
“Trees, bushes, grass. She can’t do animals.”
“So this thing is coming here when she’s…?”
“In California, yes. It’s a spell that she remotely directs.”
“How long will it take her to deal with Amazon?”
“A couple of days. Once she’s done, she’ll be zeroing in on a small city in…New Mexico? Arizona?”
“New Mexico.”
“We can’t let her win, either. You know that. I don’t feel like returning to Monke.”
“And we won’t…but we can’t let Dolan become God.”
“So what do you think? Truce?” Other Xarxos asked.
“Hmmm…and if you go in there and take their Books, what happens to me?” Ashley stared at him.
“You become me. Reality collapses around me. We fight Mary Anne and Become God of Justice.” Other Xarxos smiled.
“I have to be a dude?”
“Not when I win. I’ll drop the disguise.”
“Alright. But what if you lose?”
Other Xarxos’ eye twitched. “I won’t.”
Ashley shook her head, but waved him on. “Go on, win.”