[CODEXED QUEST] END THE CODEX WARS
The Codex Wars threaten the very existence of the Arcane Codex. All factions seek dominion over its power. The world teeters on the edge of destruction.
Find the truth.
Restore balance.
End the war.
REWARD: ???
My name is Aaron Thorn, I’m eighteen years old, and I have no idea what that notification means any better than you do.
And far more frighteningly, neither did Isaac Nabor, the elderly Codex Keeper in charge of the North Forest Codexium and the overseer of the trial I just completed. He just stood there, mouth hanging open, staring at the notification that had popped up on his portable Node on his wrist, clearly just as surprised at the notification as I was. Either that, or he’d had so much to drink he couldn’t even talk—though I didn’t think booze explained his reaction to the Codex Quest.
Isaac and I stood in the North Forest Codexium, the only two people present in the building. It was a pretty rundown place, as Codexiums go. Most Codexiums in other towns were among the nicer public buildings people visited. The North Forest Codexium was considered ‘nice’ only in comparison to the rest of our tiny village—a low bar, really.
But that was less important than the Codex Quest hovering in front of me, my very first Codex Quest as an official Codexer.
That should have made me excited.
And, on some level, it did. I’d always wanted to become a Codexer, those who could gain access to the Arcane Codex and use its magic and spells to help the Nine Kingdoms. Codex Quests were a well-known feature of being a Codexer. Completing Codex Quests was one of the main ways for Codexers to grow, learn new spells, and gain access to new skills and weapons, among other things. It was a great way to not only become strong but also rich.
Rich enough to help my family out of our poverty.
Yet something about this particular Codex Quest, on top of the strange glitches I ran into during my Arcane Simulation trial, made me wonder if I was in over my head.
Finally, Isaac, without looking directly at me, snapped, “Aaron. What does your notification say?”
I answered immediately. “It says I need to ‘End the Codex Wars.’ But what is the—”
“Does it say anything else?” Isaac’s voice was sharper than usual, like a sharpened ax splitting wood. “Anything at all?”
I hesitated. “Um, no, it’s pretty short. Just a paragraph long.”
“Expand it.”
I raised an eyebrow at Isaac. “Expand it? How?”
Isaac let out an exasperated grunt. “Focus on the Codex Quest notification and mentally tap it. It should give you more details on the Codex Quest you just received.”
I bit my lower lip. Isaac’s instructions were … not exactly the clearest, but my sister Miriam, who was also a Codexer and was supposed to be at my Codex Trial (though I still didn’t see her anywhere), had explained how reading and accessing Codex Quests worked to me once.
So I focused on the quest notification and mentally ‘tapped’ it, just as Isaac told me to, and then the notification, which resembled a partially unfurled translucent glowing blue scroll, unfurled further:
Codex Quest Entry: End the Codex Wars
Difficulty Tier: Codexed
Quest Type: Existential / Foundational
Origin Node: North Forest (?) Node
> Objective:
> The Codex Wars threaten the very existence of the Arcane Codex. All factions seek dominion over its power. The world teeters on the edge of destruction. Find the truth. Restore balance. End the war.
The Arcane Codex has determined that you are the only one who can be entrusted with this knowledge. Do not reveal the contents of this Codex Quest to others lightly. There are people, human and otherwise, out there who will seek to snuff out your life if they learn about this quest.
But seek allies. Gather knowledge. Ascend the Chapter System. Do not let your selfishness or shortsightedness win.
The Ten-Year Reset Protocol is active. Complete this quest within that time to avoid the complete reset of the Node Network itself.
This is a multipart quest, but it has no predetermined number of parts. You will receive quest updates as you get closer to completing it.
Reward(s):
-
Codex Architect Candidacy
-
Access to the Codex Citadel
Time Limit: 10 years
Status: Active / Bound to User [cannot be canceled or abandoned]
Codex Note: “Failure to complete this quest will not merely result in losing your access to the Arcane Codex; it will spell doom for human civilization as a whole. Find the truth. Stabilize the Node Network.”
Isaac was right: That was a lot more information than the single paragraph I’d gotten earlier.
But it didn’t answer any of my earlier questions.
All it did, in fact, was give me at least a hundred more to ask.
“Aaron.” There was a hint of worry in Isaac’s tone now. “What does your expanded notification say?”
Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked at Isaac, who was now staring at me with extremely intense eyes. More intense than you would expect from a drunk like him. It was as if the Arcane Codex itself had cured him of his drunkenness all of a sudden.
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I opened my mouth to answer, but then I remembered the notification’s warning about not revealing the contents of the Codex Quest to others and hesitated. Could I actually trust Isaac? He was a trained and licensed Codex Keeper, assigned to the North Forest Node by the Shinar Node Authority of the First Kingdom, which worked directly with the Shinar government under the king to regulate the use and licenses of Codexers like myself. Plus, Isaac had lived in North Forest for forty years, and the worst thing I’d ever heard anyone say about him was that he liked his alcohol a little too much. Well, that and his incessant laziness.
Still, there was something off about this notification—about this whole situation, really—that made me hesitant to reveal too much to Isaac. He barely even paid attention to all of the weird glitches and stuff I ran into during my trial, and overseeing Codex trials was one of the primary jobs of Codex Keepers like him. Why should I tell him about this quest when the quest itself, given to me by the Arcane Codex, was telling me to keep it on the down low, at least for the time being?
Before I could decide on that one way or another, however, my portable Node—a flat oval pendant that hung around my neck from an old chain I’d scavenged off my family’s farm—pinged, and a new Codex Quest notification appeared in my vision, replacing the previous one:
Codex Quest Entry: Defeat the bandits of North Forest, Part 1
Difficulty Tier: Inked
Quest Type: Combat
Origin Node: North Forest Node
> Objective:
> In recent weeks, violent bandits have been reportedly preying on travelers to and from North Forest, especially those with Codexed weapons or equipment. Locate the hideout of these bandits and put a stop to them before they destroy North Forest.
Be careful. Their leader, the enigmatic Wolfbrand, is a system-acknowledged rogue Codexer with access to forbidden Codex spells and techniques. You may need to recruit help to defeat him and his bandits and to protect your hometown.
In particular, there have been reports of bandit activity in and near the woods surrounding the Minor Codexium. You may want to investigate those rumors and determine the extent of the bandit activity.
This is a three-part quest. To complete the quest and gain all associated rewards, you must complete every part in sequence. Failure to complete one part of the quest will result in you failing the entire quest.
Reward(s):
-
100 Words (for your Casting Pool and Banked Progress)
-
+1 Custom Entry to add to your glyph reservoir
-
A Chapter 2 Spell
Time Limit: None
Status: Active
Codex Note: “Saving the world starts with saving your home.”
I blinked. “I got another quest.”
I didn’t know if Isaac caught the surprise in my voice or not, but he sounded plenty surprised himself when he looked at me with his dark eyes. “What do you mean you got another quest? Does this one also want you to save the world or something?”
Though Isaac’s words were laced with sarcasm, I could tell he was genuinely concerned about the fact that I had another quest, even if it was actually on a much smaller scale than the previous one. That Isaac had also seen the previous quest meant I actually could talk about it with him. “Um, it just wants me to investigate some recent bandit attacks on the outskirts of North Forest. There’s a group of bandits led by someone named Wolfbrand whom I need to take care of.”
Isaac bit his lower lip and stroked his chin. He looked like he was regretting dropping his beer bottle at his feet. “This is very strange… unexpected… even concerning… could it be what I think it is…”
I gulped. Even though it wasn’t very hot in the Codexium right now, I felt like I was still in the burning farmhouse in the simulation. “I hope I don’t regret asking this, but what do you think this is? What are the Codex Wars?”
Isaac, naturally, completely ignored my question and pointed an accusing finger at me. “You must have glitched the system to get yourself two quests somehow! It’s the only explanation that makes sense. A Chapter One Codexer like you should have only been granted one quest, a Scribbled Quest at that. Yet the Node gave you a Codexed Quest, which is the rarest and most difficult kind of quest possible. How did you do that?”
I raised my hands defensively, taken aback by Isaac’s accusatory words. “With all due respect, Isaac, I don’t know what you are talking about. I didn’t hack the system or anything. The Codex itself gave me the quest for some—”
I was interrupted by a transparent golden scroll appearing in my vision before unfurling, another notification from the Codex, which read thusly:
WARNING! The Ten-Year Reset Protocol begins today! The timer will remain in the corner of your user interface until it either reaches zero or you end the Codex Wars.
A timer suddenly appeared in the upper right corner of my vision, which read 10y/00m/00d, which obviously meant that I had ten years left on the timer. The timer didn’t tick in real time; it seemed to update only once per day, so its value wouldn’t change until tomorrow.
I scratched the back of my head. “And now there is a ten-year countdown timer for something called the Reset Protocol. It also mentions the Codex Wars again. Any idea what that means, Isaac? Isaac?”
Unfortunately for me, Isaac did not appear to be listening to anything I was saying anymore. He was pacing back and forth across the creaky wooden floor of the Codexium, hands on his forehead, muttering rapidly under his breath. I didn’t catch most of his muttering, although I did hear him say, “I need a drink…” more than once.
This wasn’t good. I had never seen Isaac this upset or anxious about anything before. Before my trial started, Isaac had seemed completely apathetic about everything other than his beer. Yet now he was acting as if I had just told him that the world was coming to an end, and I was the one who was to bring about the end.
Which was perhaps not an entirely insane interpretation of the Codex Quest I just received. I meant the quest about ending the Codex Wars, not the bandit one, which didn’t seem related. At least, I didn’t think so.
But before I asked Isaac for more information, I heard a door open and slam closed behind me, followed by the sound of someone running, and then a young woman with long dark hair and a bouncing pendant around her neck raced into the room. She skidded to a halt, putting her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Sorry I’m late!” said the young woman in between breaths. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Ran into bandits on the way into town, but managed to—Aaron? Are you a Codexer now?”
My jaw fell open when I looked at the young woman who was just a couple of years older than me. “Um, I think so. Right, Isaac?”
Before Isaac could respond, the young woman stood up and smiled, putting her hands on her hips with a proud look on her face. “That’s my little brother! How long did it take you to complete your simulation? And what Discipline did you get? Did you get a good one?”
You might be wondering who this young woman was and why she was so interested in the fact that I was a Codexer now. She was my older sister, Miriam, who had left home four years ago at the age of sixteen to become a Codexer herself. Aside from myself, Miriam was the only other active Codexer in our family, as well as my main inspiration for wanting to become a Codexer in the first place. The other members of my family are Uninscribed, a term meant to describe people who don’t have portable Nodes or access to the Arcane Codex’s magic. She had originally promised to be present at my trial but had run into some trouble on the road to North Forest. In fact, it sounded like she had been attacked by the very same bandits that the Codex wanted me to deal with.
That couldn’t have been a coincidence.
Regardless, I scratched the back of my neck and bit my lower lip. “Well, I just got out of the trial, so I don’t know what my Discipline is yet, but I already got—”
“Out!” said Isaac. He had come to a stop in the middle of the room, near the stationary Node that I had been touching earlier, and was glaring at Miriam and me like we were intruders on his personal property. He pointed at the exit. “Get out! Both of you! Now!”
I started, but Miriam just cocked her head to the side and said, “Nice to see you again as well, Isaac. But you do realize that Codexiums are open to the public and anyone can enter them anytime they want, right?”
Isaac marched up to Miriam without any fear or hesitation in his manner and glared down at her. He was quite a bit taller than she was, despite his age. His hands balled into fists. “I am aware of that. I also hope that you are aware that I am the Codex Keeper of the North Forest Node, which means I have the authority to close down the Codexium and prevent anyone from entering or accessing the North Forest Node if I have good reason to do so. And right now, your younger brother just gave me the best reason in the world to do that.”
Miriam looked genuinely taken aback by Isaac’s commands. As for myself, I felt more than a little bit guilty because Isaac was blatantly blaming me for all of this, even though I wasn’t at all sure what I had done to motivate him to kick both of us out and close down the Codexium to the public. Did it have something to do with my quest to end the Codex Wars?
Isaac pointed at the exit again, this time more slowly and deliberately than before. “As the Codex Keeper of the North Forest Codexium, I order both of you to leave this place and not return until I permit you. Should you attempt to go against this order, I will use my authority as the Codex Keeper of the North Forest Codexium to confiscate your portables from both of you. Permanently.”
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Quests. Chapters. Pages. Power.
— Lucas Flint