The Smartphone Saga: A Distracted Journey of Spells and Signals

Chapter 11: Things that Fly --- Shorties Arc

Dripping with sweat that had nowhere to go, Jasson crawled through hell. Pressed on all sides by heat and rough cloth, Jasson swam through human flesh. The sweat around him had formed a kind of lubricant, and he occasionally dipped down to breathe in the air below. But he couldn't stop. This was his last chance.

Jasson's fingers touched the spongy surface of the Quest Board, and Jasson frantically scrambled around. Heart sinking, Jasson realized that he couldn't feel any papers. Of course, they had already-

The edge of a paper was squished behind a muscular body to his left, and Jasson seized on the edge. Screaming, Jasson pulled and he could hear the paper tear off the pin. Praying that it wasn't another useless quest, Jasson rolled it into his fist and cried victoriously.

"MINE!" Jasson shouted with what little breath he had left. Now all he had to do was wait for the press of people to release and he'd-

Someone gripped Jasson's hand and started prying his fingers apart. Jasson tried to scream, but a hand snaked around and covered his mouth. It was salty but Jasson held himself back from biting down.

"Just give it to me," the man hissed, "I missed it earlier, but a little @$#%# like you can't just sneak in here and take it! It should be mine!"

Then something grabbed the back of Jasson's shirt, and he was hauled out like a toy that had been stuck between the couch cushions.

Grog's massive face grinned at Jasson and Grog said "Well done kid! Now that's commitment! Haha! Go read your prize for a bit."

Grog set Jasson down on the floor, and Jasson stood and said "Thank you Grog."

"Don't mention it," Grog said, "Now then-"

Like lightning, Grog caught the back of the shirt of the man who had been fleeing. Pinching Jasson's assualter between two fingers, Grog held the man up.

"Jeffery, Jeffery, Jeffery," Grog tsked, "I cannot believe that you would try again the very next day. It's Thursday for crying out loud. I'm afraid that something this blatant deserves... punishment."

Jeffery paled and said "N-no! I got in front! I was there first! The kid came in and stole it before I could grab it."

"That's not how it works Jeffery," Grog grinned, "And I believe that I made you a promise yesterday. Everyone who wants to, follow me."

Jasson and about half the crowd followed Grog outside. The giant towered, as tall as some of the buildings around them.

"Listen to me," Grog said, "As of today, I am offering three options. First, we expunge you from the Adventurer's Guild. That's it. Second, I literally kick you so hard that you fly out of the city and land among the trees. You're allowed to come back in after that, but you won't sit down for around a month. Third, I get to test out my invention."

Grog reached to the side and opened a hole in space, then pulled a basket from his Locker. It was like an Easter Basket with a long handle over twice the height of the actual basket, except colored brown rather than a rainbow of pastels. It looked proportionately normal with Grog holding it, but when it was set beside Jeffery the true scale was revealed.

"Now," Grog said, "I just finished this last night. It's a magical single-use basket made to handle the extreme heat of atmospheric compression. I wanted to test it out today, but they said that I couldn't use criminals until my permit processes. Do you remember my threat yesterday? That I would throw you to Mance?"

"Uhh," Jeffery's eyes were fixed on the basket like it was waiting below a guillotine, "Yes sir."

"Fantastic," Grog stood, "In summary, Option One is to leave here and never come back. Option two is to suffer great bodily injury and be kicked into the nearby forest. Option three, and I really hope you take this one, is to become a test subject. This basket should ensure your safe landing, although it has not been tested. I'll even give you the coin and paperwork to make it back here. What do you say?"