Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

Silently, Kol climbed up a nearby building, his entire frame hauled up by the tips of his fingers, moving as swiftly as a spider. He came to rest on the top of the building next to his target, who was blissfully ignorant of his presence.

Kol settled into a nook in the rooftop, watching Jebediah Trapper from a sheltered viewpoint. He seemed to be talking with some other human with white hair. The two of them looked at City Hall quite a few times during their talk, indicating the target of their current scheming.

Kol wanted the human all to himself this time, so he waited until the white-haired human left out the back of the building.

Here we go, Kol thought as Jebediah Trapper settled into a meditative posture, his defenses lowered. The keegan assassin silently drew his blade, moments from leaping over to the next building.

He stopped when a thought occurred to him.

Actually…why get paid once? Now that the human had revealed himself as an agent of Vresh Tekalis and exposed Judge Elkor’s dirty secrets, there were sure to be dozens of others willing to pay Kol to silence him.

Laziness and greed, Kol admonished himself, shaking his head. No. I’ll do this now, then leave the city. I’ve lingered too long.

Kol jumped across to the next building.

Chapter 23: Fan Mail

“Any interest in going with him?” Jeb asked Smartass as Eddie left, his drone taking off and flying high above his creator, a golden retriever intellect keeping an extra eye on the situation.

“You know what the normal response to a fairy in the halls of government is?” Smartass asked, watching Jeb from his shoulder.

“A rolled-up newspaper?” Jeb asked, glancing over at her.

“Yes!” Smartass shouted, shaking her fist. “Just because we occasionally make Deals with ignorant farmers for their children, and sometimes we’re forced to steal all their sweets, potatoes and cream when they renege, and every once in a while, we lead some to greatness that makes others mad with envy.”

“I have noticed the aliens are unusually quick to accept a Deal,” Jeb said, nodding. “You said lead them to greatness? Was that a Deal?”

“Oh no, that’s another way to gather Impact.”

“Do tell.”

“Okay.” Smartass held up her fingers. “I think you’re ready for Wizard Lesson number two. Another source of Impact to truth speakers is Guiding, which is helping someone discover their Role.”

Jeb raised a brow.

“This one doesn’t require a Deal, which is why you’ll hear so many stories about Merlin doing it, that git.”

“Well?”

“Alright, so you understand the concept of Impact, and how it’s the total potential change that a person could exert over the course of their lives?”

Jeb nodded. He’d had plenty of time to think about it the past month or so, after all.

“Well, a Role is a measure of how much aptitude and passion for a specific course they show. How set they are in their path. Normally you can’t alter aptitude, but you can alter passion for a profession, or shine a light on aptitude someone didn’t know they had.

“So when you have a person who hasn’t decided what they want to do with their lives, they have no Role, or it is very weak.”

Jeb raised a brow.

Smartass continued. “Let’s say you have a moody teenager who doesn’t have any particular desire to do anything. Then you wait until he and his younger sister are wandering through the woods, and you…maybe send a wolf after them. The moody teen fends off the wolf, and it becomes a life-defining moment. He goes on to become a knightly defender of the weak because of that one do-gooder experience.

“Now, a knight’s total Impact is more than a peasant’s; that’s a net positive… But! Locking in that Role, by definition, limits others. That knight will never be a farmer, nor a clerk, or clergyman. He will be a knight. A small amount of that lost potential will be visited back on the Guide.”

“So…helping people figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives? That doesn’t seem bad at all. Why aren’t I doing that?”

“It’s very hit-or-miss. Life-defining moments that lead to a person choosing a Role are hard to reliably engineer, and there’s no one perfect Role for any person. That old bag found that out the hard way.” Smartass rubbed her hands together and chuckled evilly, before she caught Jeb staring at her.

The small fairy cleared her throat. “Or so I’ve heard.”

“Have you gotten taller?” Jeb asked.

The fairy stood on his shoulder and measured her head to the top of Jeb’s head.

“Typical familiar growth, I suppose,” she said, standing on her tiptoes to get a little extra height above his head. The fairy was outgrowing her candy bar wrapper. It seemed like she’d have to hermit-crab into a baby sock or something soon.

If she’s growing, it must be a result of the power I’ve gained since the last time I checked.

Jeb blinked. He’d been too busy to check his growth since the trial. He took the Appraiser off his finger and blew a roiling cloud of grey and red in front of him. Jeb stepped into it, allowing the cloud to sink into his body. The red pulsed from inside Jeb’s bones, then withdrew, the Myst forming a status screen.

Jebediah Trapper

Mystic Trapsmith, Level 39

Accolades: Krusker’s Brawn, Siren’s Cunning, R-R-RubU’s Mysteries, Gresh’s Subtlety, Innovator, Lagross’s Power

Body 21 (11)

Myst 71 (26+3)

Nerve 26 (15)

Abilities: >>FATAL EXCEPTION. Ability missing or corrupted. Awaiting resolution by Administrator.<<<

Accolade Pending: Lagross’s Power suspended due to multiple instances. Awaiting resolution.

Ten points in Myst, five in Nerve and two in Body since I last checked, Jeb thought, tapping his fingers against the back of his hand. Smartass got...two and a half percent of seventeen? Little bit under half