Scum and Villainy II

Ren felt a disturbance in the force when his name was spoken. A feeling he couldn't describe transcending time and space itself. A brief jolt of unease. As an Earthling who had enjoyed the movies extensively in his childhood, he could think of no better way to describe it.

Maybe strange feelings were what it meant to get older. Then again, he was only twenty-five. Some days, his body really liked to make him feel like an old man. Booze and combat would do that to you.

He rubbed the dark circles under his eyes and splashed his face with water. The bathroom in this hotel was stocked with all sorts of products from different planets. Soap from Dragonsfold – a planet with especially fragrant plants. Shampoo from Mirris V – a planet where mass-production had destroyed society. Toothpaste from… Metahome? That was where Drask came from. Ren didn't know if he'd been there before. If he had, it clearly wasn't that memorable. He hardly brushed his teeth anyways. What was the purpose? He wasn't out to impress anyone, not anymore.

Selling that kid had made them enough money to make it for a little while, but the time would soon come to get back to the brutality. The true way of the Void.

"So what do you reckon this thing is, anyway?" A voice asked from outside.

Ren stepped out of the bathroom and into the main area of the hotel room, which was two beds that they'd unfortunately been sharing. There was nothing like television in the Void, which left the room looking a little barren compared to the ones on Earth. Entertainment-based activities had never really caught on in the Void, since the people there were insanely work oriented. In fact, they made fun of Earthlings for their reliance on dopamine and petty entertainment.

Savra was sitting in the corner and reading a newspaper. Drask was standing with Parsh, the one who had asked the aforementioned question. They were meditating over the strange orb they'd recovered from that white-haired kid. There had been a lingering regret from not asking him what the hell it was, but they didn't want to risk him waking and seeing their faces. An angry victim coming for vengeance wouldn't be any good.

"Maybe it was something personal to him," Ren suggested.

Both men turned towards him, looking confused.

Ren shrugged. "He clutched it tight, even as he was nearly dying."

Parsh held the small grey orb in front of his face. It was perfectly spherical, and made of metal so smooth that one's reflection could be seen clearly within it. The self-obsessed Parsh stared at himself in the reflection. "Maybe he stole it?" He wondered.

Ren snatched it from his hands. "You're just projecting."

"That's not–" Parsh started angrily.

"Parsh has a point, sadly," Drask cut in. He sighed and sat down on the bed. The attention of both men fell upon him now, the unbiased take on the situation. "When we found that guy, he was bloodied and beaten. I… Wouldn't be surprised if it's stolen."

Ren considered that. It was a rough entry into the Void, for sure. It almost seemed like he didn't mean to do it at all. Could it really have been stolen? If that was the case… Ren turned to Parsh and found that the man was already looking at him with an evil grin.

"It must be expensive," they said in unison.

"Oh dear," Drask clutched the icon of eternity around his neck. "I'm sure the Headmaster would know what it is, either way…"

"The Headmaster," Savra chimed in from the corner, "was the leading force to have slavery abolished in the Realms Between. If she witnessed your little stunt, I suppose we'd have been a lot more than just fired." He was a man that managed to look old and young at the same time, with the wisdom and silvery hair of age, but a youthful face. He didn't speak often, but when he did, the others listened.

"And you're suddenly an expert in history, then?" Ren teased, having taken Parsh's place in staring at himself in the orb's reflection.

Savra set his newspaper down, slightly agitated. "I had to set my slaves free 'cuz of her. How do you think I ended up with you idiots?"

"The door's right there," quick-witted Parsh countered, pointing to the door in question.

Savra wordlessly lifted his newspaper up again and continued to read. He'd made his conversational input of the day, it seemed.

"The only person in the world who knows about our crime is that boy," Parsh continued. "And not even he saw our faces. We could go ask the Headmaster about this if we really wanted to…"

"She's not going to be happy to see us regardless, Parsh," Ren scowled. "There has to be an expert somewhere who can tell us what it is." One thing was for sure. They couldn't sell this thing without ascertaining its true value. The funds from the boy would only last a little longer. Maybe this sphere was another lucky break?

Drask scratched the scruff on his chin. "You don't think it was made on Earth?"

"Definitely not," Ren replied. It was too perfect, too flawless. It looked like a prop from some sort of sci-fi movie. 

"Lightborn artifacts have this level of quality," Parsh said, "but they're always covered in channeling runes. I can safely say that it isn't from Dragonsfold. What about you, Drask?"

"I think stuff like this could be made on Metahome, but I doubt it, to be frank. It radiates some sort of… Energy. But it's unnatural, not like Void energy at all," he said, still scratching his chin.

"Maybe infuse it with Void energy?" Ren suggested.

Parsh snatched the orb back once more. "And if it kills us all?"

Ren shrugged. "Drinks are on me in hell."

"Right." Parsh focused hard and closed his eyes. Drask and Ren held their breaths. Savra seemed to cower a little bit behind his paper. The room fell into complete silence for a moment. It wasn't long before Parsh opened his eyes again. "This… It's absorbing my energy," he said.

"Absorbing how?" Drask wondered, excitedly standing up.

"I don't know! It's leaving my hand and then vanishing!" Parsh boomed.

Ren had never seen this much whimsical emotion on the man before. "Let me try," he said, taking it into his hands and focusing hard. His energy flowed down his arms, into his palms, and then… This was usually the part where it took physical form, whether it be a fireball or a sword. Instead, it vanished from his perception. He opened his eyes to stare at the orb in bewilderment.

"Same thing?" Parsh asked. "Where the hell did that boy get it?"

Ren wondered the same. Something that could absorb Void energy would be the greatest weapon in the history of the Void. The Headmaster would kill for this. Hell, Ren would have killed for it. That very item was in his hands now, perhaps one of the most important items in the entire universe. Ren was self aware enough to know that he couldn't be trusted with it. But… The profits.

"We need to destroy this, or hide it," Drask was the first to make a suggestion.

"No! We can't let this get into the hands of anyone else. We can use it!" Parsh countered, greedy-eyed.

Greedier-eyed Ren spoke up. "Can you imagine the price it would fetch, knowing what we know now?"

"No!" Parsh said. "There's no one in the universe who can put up the price for something like this. Void is the fundamental stuff of the universe, Ren. This thing can absorb reality." He tried to grab it from Ren's hand, but Ren held it up above his head in response.

"You definitely shouldn't have it, then," he said.

"You– Personal grievances have nothing to do with this!" Parsh gritted his teeth, and drew his pistol in flash. By the time he had it level with Ren's head, Ren reciprocated the action. They stood not even two metres away from each other with pistol barrels pressed to the other's forehead. Mutually assured destruction.

Drask jumped back in terror like a child watching his parents fight.

"You're right," Ren admitted. "The price of this thing can't be quantified. I'll hold onto it while we figure out the next course of action."

"A rat like you can't hold the fate of the universe in his hands," Parsh cocked his pistol.

Ren cocked his pistol right back. "We're all rats. Do you want to be a rat with a head?"

"Gentlemen, please!" Savra said. He was standing up now, staring at both of them with disdainful eyes. "You're asking the wrong questions. Put the guns down."

"Enlighten us," Parsh said, not moving his weapon an inch.

Savra was holding the newspaper rolled into a cylinder like he might use it to hit them. "For that to exist at all means someone out there knows how to build a bleedin' Void absorbing sphere!" He stepped forward and slapped Parsh, then Ren over the head. "It's bad news, even for rats like us. And to make matters worse, we sold our only lead for drinking money!"

Ren and Parsh lowered their guns in shame. Ren held the orb in his hand and stared at it pensively before making the call that they were all considering.

"We know where he is," he said. "Let's go get him."