Screams and shouts rang through the room, bouncing off the convention center’s tile floors and high ceiling. Two armed soldiers, who’d been standing guard near the back, rushed toward us.

  Most people instinctively moved away, then edged closer again, craning for a view. A couple of people had their phones up, recording.

  The moment Wild Bill collapsed, I dropped the shield. Ingrid and Father Stoddard rushed to his side.

  Someone asked, “What’s a MINION?”

  “Can you REVIVE and HEAL him?” I asked Ingrid.

  “Working on it,” she said, already kneeling. She and Father Stoddard exchanged a few quick words, then began casting together.

  I let my MANA ARMOR dissolve since it was no longer needed. Blaze had pushed his gun out of his reach with the back of her hand. I hadn’t thought he’d actually shoot himself when I cast the shield, but at least it contained the blood spatter.

  “Everyone, stay back. Give them room to work!” I shouted.

  “But he’s dead! They can’t help him,” someone in uniform protested.

  “He’s not dead until they say he’s dead,” I shot back. “And neither of them’s going to let that happen.”

  Around us, faces shifted between shock and morbid curiosity. Stewart, the lawyer, looked pale, like he might be sick, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

  “Who said MINION? Who checked his stats?” I shouted.

  A hand went up in the university section. A young man, probably a student. “I did. What’s a MINION?”

  “Come here a second,” I told him, lowering my voice once he stepped closer. “Before I answer, what else did you see in his stats? And thanks for reacting so fast.”

  “Uh, his game name. Wild Bill Hitchcock. Holy Paladin, Level 3.” He glanced around, aware of the ears listening in.

  “Any status markers? Anything unusual?”

  “Uh, not really. But I saw MINION when he came in. I, uh, have a habit of looking at people’s stats.”

  “Why’s that?” I cast REVEAL STATS on him: AnthroPaul, Ice Mage, Level 1. “AnthroPaul.”

  He blinked. “Yeah. I was one of the students in the football stadium you rescued. I don’t want to be charmed again, so I check people. Like you, sir. And thank you for rescuing us.”

  “You’re welcome. Did you see any sign of Charm or control skills?”

  “No. Just spells and skills. Normal stuff.”

  “Good. I saw the MINION status for the first time yesterday on a friend and guildmate. It went away when the caster died. It seems like a kind of magical slavery. But not the same as the Slaver profession.”

  A gasp broke the circle. Wild Bill let out a ragged scream as Ingrid and Father Stoddard’s REVIVE took hold, followed by HEALING.

  “Ingrid! He’s a MINION. Sedate him!” I shouted. “I’ll throw up a ward so he can’t cast. Your magic won’t work, but neither will his.”

  She shouted back. “Got it. Shadow, my bag from the truck!” She pulled her keys out of her pocket and threw them towards the door. Shadow appeared as she grabbed them from the air, twisting, and running for the door.

  She dodged around people who didn’t move out of the way fast enough. I think once it looked like she slid between a guy's legs. I couldn’t see who held the door open for her. Probably one of the soldiers.

  I held off until Ingrid’s second HEAL landed, then cast ANTI-MAGIC WARD. A shimmering cylinder flared up, three meters wide, MANA blue at the center and dark blue at the edge. Wild Bill thrashed once, then went slack inside the field.

  The students pressed forward, buzzing with questions. Soldiers clustered near their computers, not bothering to pretend to work and watching us. Two guards stood post just outside the ward, one on each side. Ingrid was already on her phone, calling for an ambulance. The ward only blocks magic it seems.

  Less than two minutes later, Shadow returned, weaving back through the crowd with the EMT bag. This time people stepped aside, clearing her path. Father Stoddard’s voice drifted out, steady and low, as he prayed in Latin with Wild Bill…something that fit with his Opus Dei background I guessed.

  Ingrid pulled a syringe from her kit. After a nod from Stoddard, she injected him. His muscles relaxed.

  “Will. Drop the ward. We still have more healing to do,” she said.

  I gave her a thumbs-up and canceled it. Both of them layered on more HEALING until color returned to his face. From outside, a siren wailed…ambulance, not police.

  “Will. What happened?” Chief Brown’s voice came from right beside me, and I realized I hadn’t noticed him arrive.

  “MINION,” I said quietly. “Same status we saw on PokerRun. His went away when Iago died. This one stayed, even after Bill pulled the trigger and died.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What do you mean, he died?”

  “He shot himself. Gun under the chin, pulled the trigger. You can still see pieces on the floor.” I nodded at the bloody splatter marks still wet nearby. “Ingrid and Father Stoddard brought him back. Without them, he’d still be dead.”

  The Police Chief exhaled slowly. I could see the weight settling on him.

  Stopping for a moment, a memory hit me, I chuckled. “There’s a book series I read once where a character had a habit of saying, ‘They aren’t dead until I say they’re dead.’ He could travel in time and stopped some people from dying.”

  “That’s a handy ability to have,” he said. “Who did it, and why?”

  “I wish I knew. The why? Maybe because he was at NeedLess and he wanted the things. He said he could control them. Or he wanted them for something or someone else that controlled him like PokerRun was controlled.”

  We traded thoughts about the cursed artifacts, about how they whispered temptation if you were too close. He didn’t argue when I said they needed to be far from here.

  “Dave told me you convinced him they were too dangerous to keep in the evidence room.”

  “They’re too dangerous to be within miles of where we are. Because I was close to them, I can feel them in the back of my mind telling me I can use and control them. They’ll give me great power. Too many people have access to that room. And if someone was around them all day, I think they’d take them over.”

  “I see. From what Dave said, we don’t need more scenes like that. Will. I have a question that’s been bugging me for a few days.”

  “What is it?”

  Then he fixed me with a cop’s stare.

  “Why is it, whenever we have our biggest problems, you’re always there?”

  “I know the one last night was because Shadow worked there. I’m not going to out her.” he whispered. “She’s in the reports as reporting it and letting Carlos in through the back door. And contacting the Irregulars for help.”

  “Thank you. I know her secret will get out someday. I hope we can put it off as long as possible for her sake and her hope for a normal…well, mostly normal life. I don’t know if that’s possible for any of us anymore.”

  “You still didn’t answer my question.” The police chief told me. This time he was looking at me with that serious, the policeman wants an answer expression.

  Trying to look serious, and failing, I told him, “I know I didn’t. If this was a book, I’d say I was the main character. That’s why.”

  He didn’t smile.

  “Also, I’m the First Mana Mage. Started at Level 6 when everyone else was Level 1. I change the averages. I changed the dynamic of how the System operates in Eddington.”

  “How would that happen?” Jack asked.

  “I change the averages and if the weight of a person at each level is different, I add a lot of weight to the top end.”

  “What do you mean, the weight?”

  "The higher level or more powerful someone is, the more...call it weight, the system gives him for what it does. The more weight the more it advances."

  He listened, skeptical but not dismissive, until I pointed toward the university researchers. “They can crunch the numbers. See if I’m right.”

  “I get the concept. How sure are you of this?”

  “Not certain at all. Just trying to create an answer that sounds good. See what they can come up with for everywhere else as well as for here, and anywhere we have another first in class person.”

  At last, Brown gave a short laugh. “So, you’re guessing, but your guesses have been damned good so far. The Chief laughed again, and broke the tension.

  “So, more messes like this, but only you can handle them?”

  “No. Only the best of us. The more people level up, the less I skew things. If I’m right.”

  “Didn’t you tell me you’ve got a bad habit of being right?” Jack asked, grinning.

  I grinned back. “Sounds like me.”

  He chuckled. “Fix it so we don’t keep getting scenes like this. Got it?”

  I gave him a salute. “Yes, Chief.” He barked a laugh and walked off toward the EMTs loading Wild Bill onto a gurney.

  “Will?” Blaze’s voice startled me. She was suddenly at my shoulder.

  “What?”

  “Bill Hitchcock’s a Federal Marshal. Out of Washington. I got confirmation when I messaged for verification earlier. He’s the real thing. They wouldn’t say anything about why he was here or what he normally does. He’s the real thing.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. That tracks with what the Chief said.”

  We gave statements to a police investigator who showed up. With around three dozen witnesses, the reports would be interesting.

  "How do you write that? He shot himself, then got up just fine thanks to a priest and a Valkyrie Healer."

  “Mister Bannister?” Stewart’s voice trembled as he edged closer. “Do things like this usually happen around you?”

  I could tell he was choosing his words carefully.

  I tried not to smile. “No. Not really. This is a first time this has happened." I said. "Fights with spawns? Yes. Every day since they started. But what happened here…no, not normal.”

  He looked like he was still processing. “Is this what the rest of us have to look forward to?”

  “I hope not. This is part of something bigger. I don’t know what yet. But you can protect yourself now. That’s the difference.”

  He nodded faintly.

  I stopped for a few seconds, gathering my thoughts. “If you are asking if things like this can happen to anyone? It could have happened to you if the Game never happened. The difference is, now you can do something about it. You can protect yourself and others.”

  “I understand that. I think I do, anyway. Is this going to cancel your meeting?” he asked.

  “No, just delay it a little. We have a room upstairs. I think they have a sign outside the door. They usually do for meetings.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll go up when you do. My wife’s not going to believe what happened.”

  Laughing, I told him, “She will, eventually.” Stewart nodded silently.

  “Will.” Blaze interrupted my thoughts. “Father Stoddard is going with Hitchcock to the hospital. He said to tell him what goes on and contact him if we decide on something. Ingrid’s staying here.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that ward spell.” she added.

  “I used one of my upgrades for it when I hit Level 10 earlier today. It looks like I may need it again. I’m just happy it worked.” I said.

  “Will. We’re going to need you at the hospital with that ward.” Ingrid told me. “We’ve got patients we’ve been keeping sedated too long. We need to let them recover.”

  “I’ll do what I can. The Ward will only last an hour. But I can do several. They can’t overlap. An hour for each one. Will that help?”

  “I’ll ask the doctors, but it will help some. Thank you. I’ll have them set up a time with you.”

  “Do that. I’ll make it work. But right now, I want to have this guild meeting and get it over with.”

  “Ingrid nodded. “If you can do some tonight, we’d appreciate it. A few of the doctors are worried.”

  “I will see what I can do. Let's go upstairs. Round people up and we’ll get this over with as soon as we can.”

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