Gage gaped openly at the interior of the skyscraper. Rather than traditional floors and levels, the building had a massive atrium that stretched up to the ceiling. On top of that, the whole building must have been a one-way mirror – with a clear view of the city around him, he felt a bit like a fish in an aquarium. Around the edges, various all-glass suites seemingly floated, and a few literally hovered in the air, scattered above them. Furthermore, transparent walkways crisscrossed the open floor plan (if you could call it that), while at the ground floor where they stood, a huge fountain rose up out of the center surrounded by extravagant greenery and flowers. It was a truly magnificent building, but fact that it was completely deserted made it decidedly eerie.

“Typical,” snorted Charis, unimpressed. She gave little Alice a firm squeeze with her fist and barked, “Which way?”

Alice pointed towards a series of elevators (all-glass, naturally), and they quickly made their way over. “100th floor,” said Alice nervously, and the elevator surprisingly picked up her voice and sent them skyward. At a dizzying pace, the group zoomed upwards a hundred floors before coming to a stop mere seconds later.

A chime sounded, followed by a sexy female voice, “100th floor.”

The group exited to a clear platform attached to the edge of the building. A bridge extended from the platform towards one of the glass suites hanging in the air, and inside Gage could clearly see a man in a black suit bent over a desk, as well as the other standard accoutrements of a fancy office (bookcase, chairs, etc.).

“There?” asked Charis, and Alice nodded in confirmation. The group headed across the bridge, and at least for Gage, his excitement was palpable. He felt so close to regaining his normal size – still, apprehension tinged his excitement. Something about this place rubbed him the wrong way, and by the looks of his companions, they felt much the same. Gage sighed inwardly. It was never going to be easy.

Still, they walked across the bridge without incident – the man at the desk didn’t even look up when the glass doors to his suite slid open automatically. It wasn’t until Rima and Charis (Gage and Alice were less obvious) stood directly in front of the man’s desk that he looked up from whatever he was doing.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, surprisingly cordial.

His sharp, handsome face wore an inviting expression, hardly the intimidating figure Gage expected. In fact, his welcoming tone took all of them aback for a moment, but eventually Rima spoke evenly: “We understand that you can undo the jailbreaking procedure. We have a friend here,” she gestured to Gage, who floated on Nightwing at shoulder height, “who would like to be returned to normal so that we can restore his size.”

“Ah, very interesting,” said the man, running a hand through his flowing dark hair before leaning forward. “Unintended consequences – a spell meant to be a simple inconvenience is a serious problem for you. You can’t just ‘die’ to get back to normal.”

Gage nodded in response to the man’s direct address. “Well then, I’d be happy to reverse you – but for a price, obviously.” Normally, such a statement would sound sinister; in fact, an alarm in Gage’s head went off, because the man sounded like every villain in every movie ever. “There has to be something in it for me.”

Still, the man’s tone was reasonable, and his blue eyes didn’t give any indication of malicious intent. “What are your terms?” asked Rima.

“Well, this might sound a bit ridiculous, but there is actually a tournament held every year for jailbroken players. It’s not a death match, exactly, but the stakes are a bit higher, and players die every year. In any case, it provides big-ticket entertainment for all of the jailbroken players out there, but more importantly, the winner is offered a very interesting a prize: a “favor” from Erivar Vane himself. It’s very Mafia-esque.”

Gage and the others regarded the man in stunned silence. On the one hand, what he said was ludicrous, absurd. He wanted them to enter a tournament where they could die? On the other hand, he spoke so calmly, even friendly, that Gage had already begun to consider the offer. After all, that man had something that Gage needed.

“This is the only bargain you’ll accept?” Gage asked eventually.

“Yes,” the man responded simply.

“What makes you think that we’ll win you this favor?”

“I can’t say for certain that you’ll win. However, I already noticed that your mere presence on that bat familiar has boosted its strength immensely. Another unintended consequence, I suppose, but if both you and your unfortunate prisoner,” he nodded towards Alice, “both boosted the witch here in a similar way, I don’t see why you wouldn’t have a considerable advantage over the field.” The man’s keen observation impressed Gage, but his cold disregard for Alice also frightened him: if he could tease out that information so easily, he surely knew that Alice was his former customer. “Obviously, I want you to succeed, so you’ll have my considerable resources at your disposal as well.”

“Won’t other players have similar sponsorship?” asked Rima.

“Undoubtedly,” he replied evenly, “but like I said, I believe that you can win, and as I put it quite plainly to you, the incentives align. And since the tournament is held in a week, I don’t mind giving you time to mull it over.”

Everything he said seemed so cut and dry. He spoke with clarity and brevity, and with self-assurance – as if he already knew that they would agree to his terms. “Yes, we’ll need some time to think it over,” said Gage. “Can we return here tomorrow at the same time?”

“Certainly. And I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier, but my name is Milan Russeau.”

“I’m Gage and this is Rima and Charis,” he replied. “That’s Alice, but you already knew that.”

Milan ignored Gage’s jab, and pressed on. “Do you have any more questions for me?”

“I do,” Charis announced. “Who is Erivar Vane?”

Milan smiled broadly, and Gage wondered if that had been his first genuine expression this entire conversation. “He is an extremely mysterious player of legendary status. People say he’s connected with Perfect Dimension on a subconscious level, and is regarded as one of the three most powerful entities in the game. His power is so great that he’s practically a god, and therefore has no reason to really do much of anything. Word has it that he spends his days quietly indulging himself – with tournaments like this one, for instance.”

The group became silence as they processed this new information.

“Well, then, I’ll see you tomorrow at this same time,” said Milan, signaling the end of the meeting.

“See you then,” confirmed Rima, and the group turned back for the door.

They had gone about half way to the room when Milan called after them. “Oh, one more thing.” They spun around, and Gage couldn’t stop his pulse from quickening. “I forgot to mention that the tournament is open only to newly jailbroken characters…”

Rima and Gage exchanged looks as they both realized the implication simultaneously.

“…So your champion will have to be Charis.”