Bent World: Chapter 26 Rifts, Con-Artists, and Carnies

Chapter 26

Rifts, Con-Artists, and Carnies

Honestly, by now I think the only thing that would confuse me more is if for one moment this world wasn’t utterly confusing.

While I knew the world was apparently wide open to forming rifts for one reason or another, I never quite thought I’d see the exploitation of rifts done in such a grandiose gesture. For it seemed that the people here had taken the art of rift creation and closing and made it into a form of both live action betting, and a carnival game all in one.

What did I mean by this? Well, I think the carnie giving the sales pitch as we walked up gave the best description of it all.

“Step right up, step right up, with a team of two to five to win a prize. The rules of the game are simple, we will create a rift, you will then fight off all the monsters that come through the rift. If any monsters get past you, and we or the members of the audience must act, you lose. If one of you is injured or otherwise unable to continue, we will step in, and you lose. Fighting off all the creatures will get you a small prize.” With that the carnie giving out instructions just pointed to a bin of shabby looking toys that had stitches clearly missing, stuffing hanging out, and were otherwise not even worthy of giving to a pet as a chew toy.

“That said, you and your team fight off all the waves of monsters and then successfully close off the rift, and your team will win the Pathfinder’s legendary prize. The Pathfinder will get the traditional Pathfinder’s Nectar, while all the teammates will get their choice of jumbo prizes.”

With that, I saw giant and well-made hand stitched jumbo toys that might have made my earlier me surprised with anticipation, but I just stared at them blankly. They were well made battle maidens with different hair colors and styles, the keynote was the yellow lightning bolt that adorned each breastplate. Which seemed to be a theme here now that I took a moment to look around as everything seemed to be lightning themed here, which I guess made sense given that the monolith clearly unlocked Lightning power in everyone. Or maybe there is a higher potential for Lightning related powers in everyone, I was still unclear about the difference, although it was clear that Auntie had unlocked a new affinity apparently.

“Don’t worry, trade ups are possible, five small can be traded for one medium, or five mediums for one large,” the carnie concluded her sales pitch.

With that, she pointed to the other side and at the large barrels, after the shoddy designed small toys, there were slightly better quality but still poorly developed mediums, and then at the very end were large toys that resembled the jumbo ones, if you squinted.

Effectively the way it worked was everyone would team up in group of five, go in clear the rifts five times. Each time, each individual would receive one small toy, that would equal one medium toy per run if the entire team worked as one and traded in their pieces. Then after the fifth run, they would stop and earn one large toy.

All while no one ever touched the clearly exquisitely designed jumbo toys. Toys that had been made by an expert craftsperson and only been left to be marginally maintained ever since. While the other toys were clear knockoffs of the originals.

By now, I could feel the proximity of my teammates nearby. Not that they were making any habit of hiding their presence, but all it took was for me to peek out from behind my mask and see that everyone was present.

I could see the matriarchs of the other great families sending signals to each other. My mother was also responding back with her own hand signals indicating that they were up to something. Then I saw the moment when the matriarchs directed their daughters towards me.

Silently they came up, covered in head to toe with stylized clothing and weapons of their house embroidered plainly for all to see. Each house was thus represented, Auntie and I represented house Andry, Lady Oteranski, Lady Amherst, and Lady Jaupry who seemed somewhat tense for a moment. Only after seeing the way she watched the others waving frantically did I realize what was happening. Following the classically waving hands of Lady Oteranski and Lady Amherst, you could see their attention was set solely on Prince Jaupry the bell of this whole operation.

Suddenly Lady Jaupry’s tension made sense as these girls were clearly making their intentions known about her brother. I just shook my head in mild disappointment, a gesture that Lady Jaupry seemed to appreciate as she nodded lightly in my direction. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice the prince give a slightly flustered wave at us, but seemingly only after I took the moment to look back at him.

Surprisingly, there was a rather long line for this clear and obvious scam of a game. Especially considering the Jumbo, and likely only prizes worth vying for were clearly off limits and seen as the main attraction, all being held in a display case. Even the Pathfinder’s Brew seemed to be special as it all but glowed with a deep powerful intensity that called out to you, if you let it.

I was busy glancing over the prizes, when Auntie, apparently acting as our chaperone spoke to the carnie who had been belting out the sales pitch for all to hear.

“To be clear, two to five can enter, and if they close the rift, they all get a jumbo prize and the rift closer gets the Pathfinder’s Brew?” Auntie asked, her voice was overly loud, so that her voice could carry and be heard by everyone in attendance.

“Yeah, that’s the case, but you are too old to attempt this, these are for those first setting out on the path of the Pathfinder,” the carnie claimed, clearly trying to make as much money as possible from this ordeal.

“Oh, I am just the old house Doctor and holder of the funds, that said, I would like to purchase spots for these four children here,” Auntie declared and then pointed out myself, and the three other house ladies in waiting. Then she proceeded to pull out a pouch that contained gold and silver coins.

“One bronze per participant, another two bronze per person if you intend to be renting any of our anti-lightning equipment,” the carnie began, and hearing that my inner greedy goat felt pained from such a comment. One bronze wasn’t too bad, as that was the equivalent of a standard meal, meaning you were effectively gambling the cost of one cheap meal for the day, per person. But the twice as heavy costs for renting the equipment meant that those that were not prepared were going to spend an entire day’s worth of meals on just not dying. Not to mention possible healing fees that might arise from the rifts. As I had no doubt that healing would be seen as an exorbitant expense for most people. Fortunately, we had Auntie for that purpose, but still, I could see how many would lose quite a chunk of money for this endeavor.

“The equipment will not be necessary. Here are your four bronze coins,” Auntie declared.

For a planet that had developed by leaps and bounds thanks to a multi-year integration with my home planet, I still found it odd that they had a currency based entirely on metals. That said, the metals did take on rift properties easier, and if one absolutely needed to, they could take weapons that had been given time to soak up ambient rift energy from opposing elements and use those with great effect against certain monsters. In this case, water and in particular ice would be the best elements to use against lightning.

All our equipment had been lined with rubber, especially our gloves that we all practiced with and wore, meaning we had been practicing for this very event for nearly a year. For a moment, I wondered if this was Auntie’s plan all along, then I stopped myself for trying to even doubt her. By now I had to realize she was always thinking three steps ahead in everything she did. Meaning, this had to have been her plan. We had dress gloves of course, but even those had strips of rubber sewn in, for a better grip, at least that is what she said. While the implementation of rubber did help with a grip, it also made it feel more natural for moments like this, where we would fight lightning attuned creatures and monsters. Well not just lightning monsters, as the gloves had other natural enhancements that prevented fire damage, due to the thick backsides, slashing and other damage.

Basically, our armor was the best of the best, especially now that it seemed that we were all going to be heads of our families. Well, I wasn’t but my sister who still wasn’t here was. I know logistically why she wasn’t here, as it would have been too much for us to keep this a secret from her, especially with trying to bathe and change. As it was only mother’s elite guards and my own guardian knew of my identity as the Pathfinder, which was why mother chose to keep it this way.

Seeing the four jumbo dolls up for display, my mother apparently felt guilty. At least, that is what I determined her careful biting of her lower lip to mean.

“Can we pay two bronze extra for an empty spot, but an extra prize?” My mother asked, eyeing the fourth and what would be unclaimed jumbo warrior maiden doll.

The carnie hearing that she would effectively be getting two extra bronze pieces for this just smiled.

“You know this will still count for your full raid party and mean that we will have to create a maximum sized rift, to make it all fair and reasonable,” the carnie replied, clearly coming up with some form of extra difficulty right on the spot. Hearing this new wrinkle, mother turned to Auntie. Auntie just gave a calming head nod of assurance. That was all mother needed, as she quickly regained her composure and nodded.

“Price accepted, all five slots filled earning five prizes for a successful run, small prizes for not closing the rift, and the four jumbo prizes and Pathfinder’s brew, if they successfully clear the run without assistance and close off the rift.” Mother exclaimed loudly, while holding up two bronze coins high in the air. The way she held the coins caused them to gleam brightly in the midday sun. Then she theatrically put them down in the carnie’s hands.

It was clear, that this was all done to have everyone be ready to cry fowl if and when the carnies tried to avoid giving out the jumbo prizes. While the look on the carnie’s face just smiled in silent satisfaction as she was clearly counting on us being the type of group that would overpay for enough raids for us all to get large toys each. Which, doing the math, would be five runs for one large, or twenty runs in all, at a cost of six bronze coins each run would be 120 bronze, or one gold and two silver, assuming there were no retries, which one could almost expect with us having to go through at least twenty rift trials in a row that at least in one of those tries, one monster might move past too quickly to be stopped in time.

With that, we were set to go and went to the staging area. Auntie, acting as our team leader was allowed to go back with us, but it was made clear that if she participated in the cleansing in any way, that our attempt would be voided.

From here we watched the tactics being used by the group in front of us, this was a five-person team of warriors that were clearly not used to working or fighting with each other.

I watched in horror as the group focused their focus on the one large electrically charged boar that strode forward from the rift, versus two focusing on the large and the others quickly working to take out the others.

Worse, the tactics employed were violent, dangerous, and nearly devastating for members of their own team. I watched as one teammate nearly decapitated their fellow teammate with an over wide sword strike that only missed due to the first girl getting bulldozed by a charging micro-boar that barreled in the girl from behind.

Zzap.

Then I watched as the girls all wielding rented equipment got zapped. While they were not wearing metal equipment, the armor they had was tanned leather, something that would protect you slightly, but not insulate you from a full electrical force, like our gear would. This caused each strike of a metal weapon to stick and cause slight pauses in attacks as the electrical discharge would be enough to lock up the attackers.

While the warriors were more than a match for their opponents and eventually rallied, to team up and strike out and slay an exhausted lightning boar, they had all suffered damages. Worse, when they looked around to see their kills, it was clear that one of the micro boars had run away and been stopped by the guardians who were serving as protection for the audience.

“Ahh, too bad, but let’s hear it for the future Pathfinders!” Another announcer cried out, her voice much more melodic and enchanting to hear than the overly boisterous carnie who had been pulling everyone in.  A look of defeated horror filled the wounded warriors as they all got up and slowly made their way out of the stadium.

Cheering.

The crowd that had gathered around to see the game being played all cheered good-naturedly.

“At the very least, that is great experience that will help you grow stronger faster. And with that good of a run, you can surely come back and win a prize.” The announcer continued.

Hearing her speak, I realized why this was so expensive. I also realized just how thankful I was to have an Auntie who set up my own summer vacations to do this effectively every week or so. The reason why everyone was so willing to spend so much was that they knew this was a safe way to effectively power-level. For three bronze pieces, or the equivalent of not eating for a day, these girls could get enough experience to get them close to leveling. For many that was more than enough to see the cost as being well worth it, even without receiving a cheap toy.

Then just as I had this though, I could hear the girls talking as they came out and began stripping off their oversized, well worn, and sweaty weapons and gear talk to each other.

“That was so cool, I almost leveled,” the first girl exclaimed. Seeing her, I almost thought she was younger than me, only to realize that no I was just taller due to my exposure to rift energies. Hearing this girl speak she was clearly an awakened, but almost the same height as Pandaline, my sister.

“Me too, want to try it again?” The second girl asked.

The third girl paused, a gouge clearly visible bleeding through her clothes. She paused, and for a moment I thought she was going to bow out due to being injured, but then paused.

“I need to see a healer first,” the girl exclaimed as she showed her wound and that she was down to only three coins. The comment was clear, she didn’t even have enough money for food, but was willing to go again, but couldn’t due to needing to possibly pay a healer.

Tsk.

Hearing their comments, I heard Auntie give a ticking sound, before shaking her head and heading over to the group of girls.

“I am the Doctor of House Andry, and I couldn’t help but hear you all say you would go again, but need to find a Healer first?” Auntie asked.

The girls all just stared up at Auntie in awe. That’s when Auntie proudly pointed out the giant stylized ‘A’ on her chest for house Andry. “It would be an honor to help heal the next future rift clearers.”

And like that, I saw a side of Auntie I didn’t know existed. Yes, this was effectively free advertisement for House Andry, but it was clear that she held a special spot in her heart for adventurers and people who put their lives on the line to fight and close rifts.

“What, how much?” The girl pressed.

“Free, just come back and see me after your next run, particularly if you get injured again,” Auntie replied as she placed her hands over the wound and began to pour out healing energies right into the damaged area.

I don’t know if this is due to my now being a Pathfinder, but I was sort of shocked to see the energies flowing from her hands into the wound. Odder still was the way I could see the energy having an immediate effect on the skin, even though the wound should have been completely covered by Auntie’s hand.

“Next,” one of the wranglers called out, gesturing for our group to head up.

“Go on, you all know what to do,” Auntie stated as she looked up from her current task. Even with her head turned, she still managed to continue to pump healing energy into the wound.

We all nodded and began to leave, that’s when the real Auntie showed up and made sure to give us one of her patented pep talks, “do not disappoint me.”

Then with that she turned her head away from us, apparently done with her motivational speech. We all nodded and then entered the open rift area.

Ozone.

Just entering the area, I could smell and feel the ambient electrical energy culminating around us. In a word, it was intoxicating.

Just so much raw energy around, I could feel it seeping into my body. I knew the old me would need to run for hours to work off even this much exposure, but that was how much I had grown and changed to this point. While I had not opened up the system, at least I don’t think I had, I could still feel the effects of raw energy on my body, and how it fueled me to move faster and strike harder.

I was so caught up in the exhilaration of all the past battles here, that I barely noticed the announcer speaking.

“We have a slight change of pace here, these four are attempting to do a full run by themselves, as such they will go against the maximum level rift,” the announcer began.

As she spoke, I could see the moment a profiler in the back began opening up a brand new rift. One that had monsters that were clearly being enhanced and powered by the maximum amount of raw ambient energy that only appeared at the area of a newly opened rift.

For a moment, I was taken back to memories of my first year of school, where a fully opened rift was created and left open. This was like that, but on a scale far more powerful, likely due to our proximity to the monolith nearby. A monolith that seemed to empower each and every monster coming through the rift with at least a minor affinity for Lightning attacks.

Despite the power and intensity of the monsters coming through, and the waves of energy being released, I couldn’t help but smile in anticipation.

It was go time.