“I don't know if that's such a good idea,” Farrah said.
Jason reached down and touched the floating body. He then walked back to the houseboat as the corpse dissolved into rainbow smoke behind him. Erika, never having seen it other than in projections, watched with a mix of fascination and horror.
10 [Diamond Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
100 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
1,000 [Silver Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
10,000 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
100,000 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
“Ooh, jackpot.”
On a dimensional ship within the astral void, a ruby-haired woman shook her head in disbelief.
“That little fuc…”
69
THE DIRECTION WE WANT THEM TO GO
“You can’t just go around killing people,” Erika said.
She stood next to Farrah as Jason stepped off the surface of the water, rainbow smoke rising up behind him.
“If you’re going to go back with us to my world,” Farrah said, “then you’ll have to learn the same lessons that he did. Starting with yes, he can just go around killing people.”
“That wasn’t a person,” Jason said. “It was a projection. I didn’t kill her so much as smash her phone.”
“That’s still not cool,” Erika said.
“She knew that I was being tortured and could have told Jason on the day we arrived,” Farrah said. “The next time I see her, I might punch her nose through her brain.”
“You know what is cool?” Jason asked. “Sleepy time.”
“We have a lot to talk about,” Erika said.
“We have a lot to sleep off,” Jason said. “Tomorrow, sis.”
“Don’t go thinking you can skip out on that,” Erika warned.
“Sure,” Jason said. “Stay here so I can’t slink off. I’ll portal in your husband and aggressive strain of hugging vine.”
“Emi will be in bed by now,” Erika said.
Jason gave her a flat look and opened a portal. Moments later, a pyjama-clad rocket flew out to grab Jason in a hug.
“What’s that smell?” Emi asked, wrinkling her nose at the lingering scent of rainbow smoke. “It’s super nasty.”
“It’s your mum,” Jason said. “She’s been concealing it all this time through an unhealthy overuse of scented hand soaps, but now her secret’s out.”
“Don’t be mean to Mum, Uncle Jason,” Emi scolded. “She looks cranky. What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Jason insisted. “Maybe we talked about Airwolf a little.”
“Which season?” Emi asked in the tone of a drill instructor handing a recruit just enough rope.
“Fourth,” Jason mumbled, bowing his head guiltily.
“What were you thinking?”
“I had a lot to drink.”
“That’s no excuse,” Emi scolded. “Really, what is that smell? It’s like an animal died inside a slightly larger animal.”
“It was a magic phone lady I broke,” Jason said.
“Okay. Can we stay here tonight?”
“Yes,” Erika said. “Go get your dad.”
In the sober light of morning, the previous night’s revelations played through Jason’s head. His spirit attribute had improved his memory to the point that even magical alcohol didn’t impair it, at least of his own rank. If it was brewed from silver-rank ingredients, the story could easily change. He had no hangover, as his recovery attribute was more than up to the task of refreshing him over the course of a night’s sleep.
On the top deck of the houseboat, all the current occupants were sitting around a table sharing a buffet breakfast courtesy of Jason. Erika was a little too seedy for extravagant morning cookery. Ian and Emi, Farrah, Hiro and Taika rounded out the group.
“So,” Jason said. “It looks like we have to save the world. It seemed hilarious a few drinks in, but all of a sudden, we’re responsible for seven billion people.”
“What do you mean by save the world?” Ian asked.
“What do you mean by we?” Erika asked. “Fighting evil seems like more of a you job. I might cater, but I’ll leave confronting the forces of darkness to you.”
“Just to be clear, are we seriously talking about saving the world?” Ian asked. “That’s not a metaphor or something, right?”
“Nope,” Jason said. “Literally save the world.”
“From what?” Ian asked. “Climate change?”
“Something like that,” Jason said. “It’s like an extra, additional climate change that will eventually wipe out the planet. Basically, some bad guys in an alternate universe are doing something that is slowly destroying our world as a knock-on effect.”
“Destroying the world is collateral damage?” Hiro asked.
“To these guys, yeah,” Jason said. “I’ve fought them before. They’ve killed thousands. They killed Farrah.”
All eyes turned to Farrah.
“What?” she asked. “If you’re going to come back from the dead, you have to die of something first. I’ll get mine back by stopping what they’re doing.”
“How long do we have before the world ends?” Hiro asked.
“Years,” Jason said. “Quite a lot of years, but the longer we take, the more damage we can’t take back.”
“So, what do we do?” Taika asked.
“It's a marathon, not a sprint,” Jason said. “It's going to take me years to learn the magic involved properly.”
“It seems crazy,” Ian said and Jason laughed.
“You should see it from my perspective. I mean, I have a healthy ego, but surely there has to be someone better, right?”
“Why is it you?” Hiro asked. “Why not someone else?”
“Because the full answer isn’t here,” Farrah said. “We were told that we would need to return to my world before the task was done.”
“We’re talking about decoupling worlds,” Jason said. “We’re the ones with the tools, the knowledge and the experience of walking both worlds.”
“Sounds like there isn’t someone better,” Hiro said.
“I think it’s awesome,” Emi said.
“Of course you do,” Jason said. “You’re twelve.”
“Let’s face it, Jason,” Erika said. “So are you.”
“I did think it was awesome,” Jason admitted. “Now that I’ve sobered up, I’m just terrified. I can’t get my head around the responsibility. Two years ago, before I went away, would any of you have wanted me to be the one responsible for every life on Earth? That’s the kind of thing they put your face on the money for and I am not the guy whose face you put on money.”
Farrah took a spirit coin from her pocket and slid it across the table, with the image of Jason on it, face up.
“Rufus would trust you with that responsibility,” she said. “We met you almost two years ago and he knew immediately that you could be great.”
“Immediately? You mean when the cannibals had us in those cages, and instead of escaping, I was hit upside the head with a shovel?” Jason asked.
“Maybe not immediately,” Farrah conceded. “But from the first day. You saved all our lives.”
“He did?” Erika asked. “Jason, you were always kind of vague about events before your recordings started.”
Emi picked up the coin and peered at it.