《The Collector》 Prolog The Eternal King Benjamin have been suffering from boredom for most of the last 300 years, and since he killed the last of his friends he could not even feel any dread of potential danger. Evan have been the only one to outlive the Dark Emperor, and only because Ben considered him a minor entertainment. Seven assassination attempts that were somehow well planned, but after each failure it was obvious who was responsible. Then, for some incomprehensible reason, he has attacked head on by himself alone. Benjamin could only guess if that was revenge for sending his girlfriend for certain death, in a pointless battle, or sealing his daughter in the plane of darkness. Nothing unusual. He considered himself a good friend during that particular century, they really have been through worst times than that. In Ben¡¯s eyes Evan should appreciate it, and keep pretending to be a trustworthy friend (Ben really admired his acting skills in that matter). To be honest. He knew that saying it out loud was a bad idea, but he was actually getting tired of Evan screaming truisms like: ¡°You are a MONSTER!¡±. Ben hated when people state obvious facts like that, instead of using some actual criticism. After hearing some reason he could at least apologize to him or something. People always are so surprised when he does that, but even gods made mistakes from time to time, the only difference between them and Benjamin was the fact he could actually admit it. Or maybe the surprise was caused by his usual attitude and common opinion that he was an impulsive sadist. Which was far away from the truth, as he rarely did anything without a careful considering his options and consequences of his actions. Well, most of the time he didn¡¯t care about any consequences, but he did think about them. Evan did not explain anything, so understandably, there was nothing to apologize for. Years went on, and the assassination attempts have grown more frequent, along with their complexity. It wasn¡¯t a good time for distractions unfortunately, as after succeeding in uniting the whole continent under the rule of Senate and other institutions he had established over the years, the sheer amount of work made him feel tired for the first time since he came to this world. He begged Evan to give him some air, just for a decade or two. He would be fine with some kind of schedule or a set of rules discussing when they can play in their death game, and what imperial business it cannot interfere with. It took nearly 6 million kri and A LOT of new privileges granted by very annoyed senate officials, who in return, required Benjamin to stop his experiments with trying to turn kidnapped village girls into elves. He agreed a little reluctantly, but he didn¡¯t have any time for his hobby anyway. And so, has begun the fifteen peaceful years of hard work. What has happened later was¡­ Impressive? Infuriating? Horrifying? Benjamin felt all of it at the same time. If the circumstances were different he would make a national holiday in memory of that event, because he was pretty certain that no one would even attempt anything close to the sheer magnitude of this elaborate... Terrorist attack? Coup? Genocide? Cataclysm? Natural disaster? Ben was overwhelmed. He did not expect Evan to even consider anything close to this scale. The amount of preparations and miracles along the way, necessary for this to happen, was terrifying in itself, but casualties¡­ Benjamin wasn¡¯t called The Eternal King for nothing, he did in fact shield the city while being torn to shreds by creatures he did not manage to identify till this day. He did not die, since he was truly immortal. He also was not defeated in combat, since he had all the magic ever known to mankind for him to command. But for all the godly powers, Evan have managed to trick him trice that day. First. He made him use his Authority in the morning the same day, and when he succeeded, he proceeded with the rest of his plan. The greatest of Benjamin''s powers would not be a threat for at list another day. Second. He actually told him, that he will try to kill him. It seemed like he was just using the riots, that took place under his palace in the Capital, as a distraction. The rules, they made for public safety, should have taken care of any worries he would normally have. And Ben have believed Evan to keep his promise. The third one was different from the first two. Benjamin have made that distinction very clear in his mind during the later years. The difference was that Ben should have expected, or at least watch out for the second meteor. When the city wards have overloaded, Ben was being digested by a dragon, and noticed that something was wrong, when the lizards body was torn to shreds by the shock wave. That was one of those rare moments when his was afraid for his life. He did in fact learn some things about his powers that day. None of them were pleasant.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. When his body returned to a working condition he was surprised that there were some survivors. Immediately he had cast a healing spell all over what was the capital city of The Narak Empire, and to his surprise he couldn¡¯t resurrect almost any of the diciest. Those few zombies he managed to make were not enough to bring even a fraction of order. Realizing he could not do anything more he went catatonic for two weeks, only to snap out of it a day before Evans process. His friend refused to say what exactly made him commit such a horrible crime. Ben have felt that it would take centuries of self reflection, to comprehend just how bad friend he was, but the crime could not go unpunished. He pleaded to the judge to chose imprisonment in one of the daemon realms or even sending him of the planes ruled by the gods, but both were denied. After a month long process he was somehow relieved to hear the death sentence, and immediately removed Evans head from his body. That experience definitely didn¡¯t do anything good to his already questionable psyche. The last century was boring for sure, but he needed some peace. For some time. Then the cursed idea was born in his head. ¡°I wonder what happened to Mike. Maybe he is still alive?¡±, he wondered. Right now, Ben was strongly convinced that one of the gods have been listening to him back then. He was considering killing all of them just in case. ¡°It has been a long time¡±, a terrible ice breaker. The features of the man next to him have changed under the silk bands covering his face. It was hard to determine his reaction, but most probably it was not positive. ¡°Indeed¡±, he hesitated ¡°What brings you here?¡± ¡°Forty years ago one of my men have reported to me about a mysterious prisoner who has escaped The Hollowed Rock. It was years too late to track you down, but it did give me some clues. When I heard that quite a few decedents, of the man who interrogated you, have been murdered, I begun my search. It wasn¡¯t hard to be honest, you are quite known figure around here¡±, he explained. ¡°And what do you want to do since you found me?¡± Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure how much he should say, but lying was not an option. He had to make some things clear from the beginning. ¡°At this moment you have two options.¡± ¡°Die or join you?¡± ¡°No. Come with me, or die and come with me. First you gonna work for me for some time. I can resurrect you with your free will intact or not, but I would prefer the first one. When you prove yourself trustworthy enough, you can do whatever you want.¡± As long as you don¡¯t endanger The Empire, he added mentally. Hypothetically. Mike would be unable to kill a single dragon, without someones help. Without political connections he was mostly harmless. Mostly, the shadows crawling over the silk robe seemed to emphasize this word. ¡°Let me think about this.¡± He is trying to stall for time. The tension in the air was starting to shape into burning rocks in hie eyes. He was probably being paranoid, but better safe than sorry. ¡°You can also try to fight me. Be my guest. You¡­¡± Ben felt shame crawling on his back, as he formed dreadfire in his hands into a massive hammer. He slammed it with all the speed he could master, aiming for the rib cage to minimize the brain damage. He wanted to close his eyes, and almost did so when the weapon started to lose weight. The faint purple mist that has been the dreadfire was now being absorbed by a spiked armored glove oddly resembling piece of armor that Ben has destroyed when he killed The Dark Emperor. Benjamin¡¯s surprise was what saved Mikael¡¯s live. His arm was broken in many places, and the pain made him vulnerable to further attacks. When he managed to concentrate a little, he decided not to take any more risk. If The Eternal King would use his Authority then, his old friend would stand no chance, but his curiosity and excitement were too big, when he felt the rush of magic in the air. ¡°What are you doing to do? Summon Wrath of Seth? Order the time to burn? Descend to the plane of depravity? Try to rip my soul out of my body?¡± He did not suggest a mental battle as it was the only thing that could pose some actual danger to him. His madness had its limits, but deep down in his heart he was counting on a rematch with the meteors. But he definitely did not expect Mikael do just run of. The black smoke swallowed him even faster than Ben could react, and then he was gone. The visions of meteors have increased in intensity. ¡°I¡¯m in danger,¡± he chuckled. Then the chuckle have changed into maniacal laughter, as tears started running from hie eyes. Sacrilegious for hire The Broken Horn was quite empty at this time of the day. Usually it was safer to talk, when the noise of the crowd was stealing your every second word, even when you were next to your interlocutor, but this was not the priority of their client. The less Guild members will see him the better. ¡°Let me do the talking, Gis.¡± ¡°So you can take some shitty job for half the pay, like the last time? Sure.¡± ¡°You are exaggerating.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± She couldn¡¯t disagree, but letting Gis negotiate the deal, was equivalent of rejecting the job from the start. If only they could actually cooperate, they could probably squeeze a little extra coin from this deal, but that was unlikely. Gisthan never let her have too much to say. Not because he was doing this longer than she was alive, but because he just didn¡¯t like her being ¡°too agreeable¡±. He actually did respect her opinion, but not during the negotiations. Fortunately their new employer has just arrived to silence their fight. Having no plan for negotiations, could actually do them some good. Their usual two halves of two bad plans didn¡¯t usually do them much good. A man in an old outworn cloak walked to their table giving Gis a welcoming nod. ¡°Good to see you again Gisthan.¡± ¡°I wish I could answer in similar fashion.¡± Alta almost hissed at him, but the man seemed to understand Gis better, as he moved his hood a little to the back, but did not remove it completely. ¡°Here. Is that better?¡± ¡°I was talking about how you still didn¡¯t even give me a fake name, but I will not bitch about it. After all you could have shown up in a mask.¡± The dagger from her Inventory has now been materialized in her hand. She owned Gis a lot, but there was no way she would let him ruin a contract before ¡°He meant it as a complement¡±, she explained. ¡°Right?¡± ¡°The rumors about Collectors participation in stealing your guild¡¯s treasure, is the very reason why I have to conceal my identity. I don¡¯t mind the joke, but I would like to have some understanding in return. I understand why suspecting someone of stealing it might be a complement, but it certainly didn¡¯t sound like one.¡± ¡°Just give me some name to call you¡±, Gis didn''t seem to care about anything what he just heard. ¡°Kaihil, will be fine.¡± ¡°Alta¡±, she felt she the need to introduce herself. ¡°What about you, Gisthan? I already know you, but feel free to get yourself a nickname¡±, he seemed amused by his own joke. ¡°Let¡¯s stay with my name, and go back to the business¡±, Gis answered in his usual plain tone. ¡°First, what you want us to do? And more importantly, how much you gonna pay us for the job.¡± ¡°Have you ever heard about Tilius the merciful?¡±, he asked, and explained knowing that they would not. ¡°During the war between King Benjamin and The Dark Emperor, collateral damage suffered by civilians were more devastating than you probably thought. Over the years the diseases mixing up with curses have made some nasty plagues, and that was before some idiot from Bakard came up with the idea to help them grow. Tilius was a healer who saved from the plague even more people than the Eternal King himself with all his godly powers.¡± ¡°Impressive¡±, Gis did not seemed moved by that story. That time period was full similar ones, and most of them were even true. ¡°He is currently worshiped by convent of Stormheart monks, that he also was founder of.¡± ¡°I think I see where this is going¡±, Gis stopped him. ¡°No need for more history lessons. You want some relicts left by that guy. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°Long story short? No. You are not wrong. That story was just supposed to show you how much any of those relicts mean to those monks. Better don¡¯t underestimate their conviction.¡± ¡°Do they live in the Morning Mounties?¡± Alta remembered some monks who came to the city from time to time, to sell their potions. Not that she could afford any of those, even the cheapest they had, were strong enough to close a deep wound in less than a minute. ¡°At the Centaurs Peak to be precise. Not very high, but it is still quite a trip to get up there over the normal path.¡± Actually, Alta was very good at climbing, but she decided to keep that fact to herself, in case they would have to exaggerate the difficulty of the mission, during the negotiations. ¡°Anything else we should know, before going there?¡± She asked instead. ¡°Not really. I¡¯ll give you the map of the place and description of the artifact¡­ Well, thinking about it now, I did not ask you if any of you can break runic locks. Would it be a problem?¡± ¡°Hargot¡¯s balls! Yes!¡±, Gis exclaimed. ¡°We technically could do it, but a task like this would be had enough time consuming even without the trip, we would need¡­¡± He stopped seeing Kaihil materialize a blade in his hand. Alta was sure that Gis had to put a lot of mental strength into holding himself back from throwing a fire spell at their client. She also had to restrain herself from any sudden movements, despite the fact that Kaihil was clearly holding the dagger by its blade pointing its handle towards them. Very expensive dagger, she noticed immediately and made herself take it. The shining curved blade was about as long as her open palm. The handle was covered in thin layer of golden threads, and ended with a black gemstone that she couldn¡¯t recognize. That alone would make it something worth more money, than they hoped to get from this contract, and that was without counting how heavily enchanted it was. And the enchantment was strong. She could even compare it to one of the wards keeping the north underground closed - all of them were made by The King himself. ¡°It¡¯s a spellbreaker¡±, he explained. ¡°I am lending you part of The Collection, and I hope I can trust you with it.¡± He waited a while but it was a rhetorical question. ¡°Give it to whoever in your team is the best with picking locks. It still needs some skill to use it.¡± ¡°We will.¡± Gis answered with a hint of hesitation. ¡°I guess that this precious tool indicates that we don¡¯t have to negotiate the price? I am a greedy man, but I have truly underestimated the wealth of The Collection¡±, he said.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Let me make something clear. This spellbreaker have to be returned in untouched condition, and any damage, or - may the gods have mercy - losing the dagger, could be forgiven, only if you obtain the artifact¡±, he clarified in cold tone. ¡°Going back to the topic of money, The Collector have offered budget of twenty thousand kri.¡± ¡°With or without operational costs?¡± Alta had to clarify that detail. ¡°And what about not negotiating anymore?¡± He asked in more friendly tone. ¡°That was his words not mine. And I¡¯m not negotiating. We need to plan the expenses we can make and this job still being worthwhile.¡± ¡°Wow. Did I miss some new inflation?¡± ¡°I only said it, because you made it clear what you mean about failing this mission¡±, she answered short. She was afraid, she would stutter. ¡°Did I really? Well don¡¯t mind if I did. After a failed attempt, the whole place would turn into a fortress for a year or more.¡± He sighed. ¡°Fine. If you can show me some reasonable expenses not included in costs of transport or buying equipment you should already have in your possession, I¡¯ll throw additional 500 kri from my own pocket.¡± After that the conversation felt like it was over, but Kaihil insisted they should discuss any minor detail that they could have missed. They ordered some wine, and tried to support his attempts at making some small talk. After half an hour he seemed to finally understood how bad it was going, and left asking them to contact him in two days to finalize the deal. ¡°Remind me, not to try making you more assertive¡±, Gis finally commented. ¡°Let¡¯s bring Nix with us, the next time. At least he knows how to talk to people normally.¡± ¡°We will talk about this later. More importantly, what do you think, about all of this?¡± ¡°Depends. Are you sure he represents The Collector?¡± ¡°Yes. I have seen him a few times after the flood, when some of lower tunnels were opened for cleaning. He made quite a reputation for himself back then. The guy is not very good with sword or magic, but he knows his stuff when it comes to magic items and artifacts. Just to make sure, I have asked some people, and it turns out that he even used to be an official guild¡¯s specialist before The Empty Face was stolen,¡± he said. ¡°Than our decision should be easy. Or you think The Collector cannot be trusted?¡± ¡°Hells yeah! His reputation is shady even outside the guild. Why do you think people accuse him of stealing The Face? Even among guys like us he and his employs don¡¯t have opinion of respecting spoken or unspoken rules. Adding one more junk to The Collection is all that matters to them,¡± he said. ¡°But we have the dagger. There isn¡¯t much place for cheating us, while I have it in my inventory. I can damage the enchantment in a second - small exaggeration - making him lose more than the money he owns us,¡± she claimed. ¡°He cannot rob us,¡± Gis agreed. ¡°And I don¡¯t think he would even want to. Whatever they say about him, he¡¯s not that cheap. Just wanted to make some things clear to you. What about the job itself?¡± It seemed to her, that whatever concerns he had were overshadowed, by the twenty thousand kri they were offered, but she didn¡¯t say anything. First of all, she knew it would allow him to become an official mage, and she knew how much it meant for him. Second of all, she herself also enjoyed the perspective of getting that money. Who knows, maybe she could even go with him, and get some education herself. She was very lucky to have Gis¡¯s tutage, but it could take only that far. ¡°I can do the danger assessment later, but it seems fine. If Lena does not say anything, it should be easy. Or rather doable,¡± she corrected herself. ¡°Fine. Let''s go.¡± *** The Broken Horn have been right next to the rooms and storages that could be rented from the guild. Including the one that was their base/office. The high quality security wards would normally make them quite pricey, but that was back when their city was still a capital, and the underground was a safer place. But for them this was a place where they could feel perfectly safe. Welcome home. Nix and Lena wouldn¡¯t seem to listen to Gis¡¯s summary, as both of them did not even look at him, but both of them were good at multitasking. Well, Lena was, Nix was doing his best to live up to his uncle¡¯s expectations, keeping his attention on both Gis and his ward manual. Lena on the other hand just had no problem analyzing their new contract while reading¡­ ¡®Spider princess and the Scholar¡¯. Very shallow book for someone who could sometimes be so sharp, but Alta decided not to judge. ¡°Can I see the knife?¡± Nix asked once Gis have finished. ¡°I was afraid you would never ask. Alta?¡± She took the dagger from her inventory, with a sigh relief - she had to take out her emergency set of lockpicks and her normal knife, just to fit the thing inside, and it still felt heavy. ¡°Here you go.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± He seemed to be very interested in the unusual gem, but his fingers were also carefully mapping each rune on the blade. Alta didn¡¯t suspect him to find a lot more about it then she has noticed after her brief examination - he wasn¡¯t that good yet. Gisthan, on the other hand, was patiently waiting for his nephew¡¯s judgment. ¡°Old,¡± he said finally. ¡°More than two centuries. Or a fancy reproduction, but the enchantment is still very efficient, I don¡¯t have to break any wards to feel its magic flow. There seems to be an internal capacitance module, but the structure is powered, by the magic freed from the broken wards.¡± ¡°And where does it take the power to start the process?¡± Gis started interrogating. Alta knew better than take part in the discussion. ¡°From capacitance module, of course.¡± He probably already knew he was wrong, but making Gis answer himself was faster than looking any mistake in his logic. ¡°That is a solution for those apprentice made tools that I usually buy. Sure the battery charges while it is in usage, but it would, either lose most of its capacitance from overcharging in a few years, or would run out of power after facing its first multi-layer ward. I don¡¯t even think the gem is a capacitance module. It would be very impractical placement in this kind of tool.¡± At least he got the age right. Alta wanted to tell him they should discuss other things right now, but this could actually be quite important. The spellbreaker was the key element of the whole plan. Better understand what they were using. ¡°Kaihil suggested using it like a normal disruptor just stronger,¡± she finally made herself say something to make it faster. ¡°So it can¡¯t be using external mana.¡± ¡°Yes I also don¡¯t see any drain to absorb users mana, but it could be hidden,¡± Gis half agreed with her. ¡°Its chimeric.¡± Lena finally decided to speak. ¡°It has some connection to its second part build in.¡± ¡°So there is a second item?¡± Gis asked with a dose of doubt. ¡°Your gift?¡± ¡°You can look it up in that book you bought last year from Dim. The one in black cover.¡± Lena was not their best magic expert. She was just an oracle, and not even a good one, but she had quite a memory. ¡°Does it change anything about the usage?¡± Alta asked. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m taking it back, so we can finish planning.¡± Or rather start planning, she corrected herself mentally. ¡°You sure you can handle it, Alta?¡± Nix didn¡¯t try to hide his doubt. ¡°Yes, but this is the weak spot of every plan we can make, so I¡¯m gonna have to make myself familiar with using this.¡± She has opened her Inventory just when he asked that question, and the dagger was still only halfway there. Lock picking was not the only thing she was going to train, she felt uncomfortably inferior, after seeing Kaihil casually summoning it in midair. ¡°I think, I can help with that,¡± Gisthan suggested. ¡°Can you make me some wards to break? That would be great, but will you have enough time for this?¡± ¡°Of course not. But I can get you around twelve locks from my friends apprentices. Most of them are not good enough for him to sell in his store, and some can¡¯t be opened even with the right key, but if you want to practice breaking locks it will be perfect for you.¡± ¡°Buy me also one functioning lock, just in case.¡± ¡°Those are expensive.¡± ¡°Twenty thousand kri, Gis. Just take it from my part.¡± ¡°Since when did you become so bold?¡± ¡°Since twenty thousand kri.¡± ¡°Oh, I understand you very well,¡± he chuckled a little. ¡°I guess you are right. It is better to prepare a bit too much, than lose that kind of money. Let''s analyze what your Risk Assessment can tell us. Alta suspected that they wouldn¡¯t finish this before midnight, and she hoped it was really going to be worth it. ¡°Risk Assessment,¡± she said and all the world become a haze of numbers. The heist Alta was starting to feel weariness in her muscles, but she ignored that and kept puling the dagger. When handle was finally out of her inventory, the resistance have increased insead of getting weaker, it felt like the blade was suddenly stuck in a block of wood. She didn¡¯t start pulling any harder, because in best case scenario it would not help, and in the worst one she could even break the item. Instead, she tried give a gentle push from the inside of the inventory itself. It didn¡¯t help much, but the dagger was almost out anyway. The moment she stopped to feel resistance, she gripped the handle more firmly and slashed her target, slicing it in half. ¡°Good job Alta,¡± she heard Ult¡¯s voice from behind her. ¡°Thank you?¡± ¡°May I ask how did that tree offend you, so I can avoid its mistake?¡± She looked at the ground where leafs and parts of branches were lying in line resembling the path she was walking back and forth for the last two hours. ¡°I was practicing with my Inventory. I think I managed to cut down the time I need to pull out the blade by few seconds.¡± ¡°No offense but it would be simpler to keep it at your belt.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t like risking losing it. Our client was very specific, he wouldn¡¯t like that.¡± That was true, but she also might have been having a bit too much fun with her new toy. ¡°I guess you are right. It¡¯s probably also good ability to have for a thief.¡± Well, that felt kinda uncomfortable to hear. Sure most of their jobs was revolving around obtaining people¡¯s possessions, but it was usually about things with some unclear ownership, or non-material stuff, like information. Right now it was hard to make a living trying to take only those kinds of jobs, as it was hard enough without limitations like that. Most guild members had to keep more ordinary jobs, even if they were not picky with that kind of stuff. Ult was a good example, being a hunter for most of the time, and helping Gis with some of their jobs. They didn¡¯t work together very often, but he was also staying in touch with other guild members, they were just the ones with the longest partnership with him. Of his twenty-five years he had spent twelve in the forests surrounding the old capital of The Empire. That with addition of his other talents made him almost irreplaceable, working outside the city walls. ¡°You done with your scout?¡± She asked him. ¡°Nothing unusual out there,¡± he answered. ¡°There isn¡¯t anything worth harvesting right now, and they don¡¯t even do it by themselves most of the time. They can afford to pay guys like me to do that.¡± And from what she understood, they didn¡¯t actually do justice to the prices they promised. When they asked him to join them, Ult seemed to be more than happy to get his money back. Making the convent lose, one of its most precious artifacts, was probably even more important to him, than the money he was going to get. ¡°Anyway¡­¡± He started. ¡°Is it hard to learn that inventory spell?¡± ¡°No, not really. You don¡¯t even need to be good with mana to use it.¡± ¡°Than how so nobody uses it? Once I¡¯ve seen one guy pay with a coin purse he took from midair and everyone freaked out. And that was in the upper district of the city.¡± ¡°Same reason why you don¡¯t see people casually cast other spells on the streets. Sure most people in Callaw have basic grasp on mana manipulation and could use a Inventory with enough practice, but that is what you need. Practice. Then if you have time to practice, it is usually more practical to focus on your mana channels. Just like you said it is a good ability to have for a thief.¡± Now. She said it. She was a thief. There is no need for fancy words, when she was supposed to be trying to be more self-aware. She was a thief, but at least she was going to be a very rich thief, if everything goes as planned. ¡°Wait. What do you mean focus on mana channels? This is a spell you improve your spells by developing your mana channels. Don¡¯t try to tell me otherwise, I may not be very good at this, but I know that much.¡± ¡°No need to be offended. I know better than to make jokes of you. The thing is: you cast a spell only to create your inventory. Or pay someone to do it for you. Actually using it requires close to no mana, if you do it correctly, so you can be an Arcmage and still have Inventory the size of an apple.¡± ¡°That is¡­ not the way I imagined it. You make it look unwieldy, when you say it like that.¡± ¡°It is. It does not develop itself with time or from external factors, like mana channels do, and carrying more than its current capacity will make you tired for the rest of the day. Make sure you have few days of free time when you decide to give it a try.¡± She was exaggerating of course. Most of the guild members could use Inventory, and half of them could carry more than one knife. Its biggest advantage was its safety, only a skilled mage could access someone else''s Inventory, and even then it takes some time. Not only good for thieves, Alta thought to herself, but also good against thieves. She didn¡¯t say any of this, afraid he would ask her to teach him. She was sure he wanted to, but she almost gone mad while teaching Lena, who was an angel. She definitly didn''t have the patience for that kind of things.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°How much time did you needed to get where you are now? And where it is, actually? Do you hold there your tools or just that knife?¡± Eh. Normally she would just say it was rude to ask, but taking into account their upcoming task, it might be a valid question. And about the time she needed to reach that level of ability, she could bend the truth a little. ¡°One healing potion, a set of lockpicks, those sticks from Kaihil, and a second set of lockpicks, in case something happens to the first one. The potion is something new, but it just took the space of money I usually hold there, and the dagger took the place of my own knife. It is a bit bigger thou, so it puts some strain on me. I had to carry it on me for a week before I could feel comfortable with it. And it took me five years to stretch it that much.¡± ¡°Yeah, that is a bit closer to what I imagined.¡± ¡°Nothing comes easy in life,¡± she said, trying not to be too smug about destroying his dreams. Maybe she could give him some directions after the job is over, but right now she was just too¡­ ¡°So do you know that spell? The one to make an inventory?¡± Fuck. *** Lena was avoiding eye contact with Alta ever since Nix and Gis finally arrived with Kaihil. She dammed well knew how Alta felt about teaching, and could all too well see that Ult was a particularly annoying student, and yet she just hidden herself to keep reading that stupid book for two hours before revealing herself. Alta had a hard time finding an excuse for herself, and despite her being a deliberately bad teacher, Ult just persisted with questioning her. When they finally finished, she wasn¡¯t only tired and annoyed, she was feeling bad with herself, after seeing him actually manage to use his Inventory, and not even very clumsily, by beginner¡¯s standards. Lena gave her a brief apologetic look and turned to Kaihil, with an excuse to discuss her visions. Sure. Like there was anything to discuss anymore. Kaihil already made sure to analyze thoroughly, all the details that Lena did manage to foresee. She wasn¡¯t really talented concerning her future forecasting ability, and the usefulness of her predictions was quite questionable. She was doing her absolute best to help in any way she could, but under normal circumstances she would never be working with anyone from the guild. Nix and Alta were taking care of her even back when her aunt was still alive, and Gis was the reason why Lena got her apprenticeship at the tailor workshop. They didn¡¯t pay her much, but that was still more that they should, in relation to her contribution. To be honest Lena would probably help them for free, if they just asked her to. After two years she even managed to improve her skill, with Gisthan¡¯s help, giving her the ability to see vague shape of upcoming events. The first somewhat useful vision happened three days ego, and only told them that some of the monks were likely to detect their attempt. Still, that was more informative than they usually get, so they felt mostly satisfied with that. Except Kaihil was not. Lena was trying to get some more details, but all the results seemed very similar. All it really told them was that, there was virtually no way to get the artifact without being detected. That almost made them quit the job. Kaihil made sure to explain them just how fanatic those monks really were, so he could only blame himself for doing a too good job. Alta still wasn¡¯t sure whether they would even go to that temple, when she left the city this morning, but she quickly changed her mind, when she has seen Gisthan in his new fancy storm-cloak. Kaihil seemed to finally give up and decided to equip them in more Collection¡¯s resources. First he agreed to give Gis a stardust storm-cloak, and when he learned Gis wasn¡¯t proficient enough in aeromancy to make use of it, he added a staff of wind to the deal. On verge of his patience, Kaihil did also sell him some lesser amulet, but that was it, he said. According to him The Collector would not allow anything more flashy, and the risk of exposing his connection to them, was already growing too much. Everyone agreed that was some bullshit. Sure, storm-cloaks were expensive and hard to get by, but Gis¡¯s lack of experience would make him look like a normal mage with a wind-cloak or even a breeze-cloak. Nothing was as risky as the spell-breaker, that he already give them. At last, they were finally under the Centaurus Peak, waiting for the sun to go down a little bit more. During the short interval of time between sunset and lighting of the lanterns, Nix¡¯s shadow magic should be enough to hide them even if some monks would be still there. Or that was the plan. ¡°You know how to use that thing?¡± She asked Gis. ¡°I would prefer more time to practice, but this is fine too. If you leave me the rope, I can get to the entrance in a minute or two. My record in vertical flight is only three meters, so make me some loops for me to grab on.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you wait on the rope, like Ult? Two minutes can cost us our lives.¡± She still had her doubts about the plan, barely silenced by her newly acquired greed. ¡°Would you rather trust your life, to a man who was hanging on a rope for two hours. Also, how do you expect me to climb holding the staff?¡± And flying was too loud, so he had to wait on the ground until she or Nix gave him the signal. She knew that. But having him few meters closer would do a lot for her confidence. "Shouldn''t you have already discussed that?" Kaihil asked, earning himself two angry looks. Yeah, they kind of liked him, but at the same time they wondered if twenty thousand was enough to work with him. He usually behaved like he was paying them at least twice as much. "If you don''t trust our methods, you can always Come with us," she answered him calmly. That line was normally enough to shut him up, but this time he finally showed some irritation on his face. Ha, good. She was worried he was some daemon pretending to be a human. No one expected him to hire them again, so they haven''t been easy on him. "I will think about this." Fortunately sun was finally low enough so she could go. ¡°Looks like Ult did his job properly,¡± Nix noticed when she joined him. He was right, the hooks were hidden quite well. She had no idea how he managed to put so many of them, without anyone noticing, but if their quantity on the bottom of the rock was any indicator of the rest, she was going to give him some actual lessons later. ¡°Good for us,¡± she answered feeling guilty again. *** Top of the temple was so densely warded that only the smallest birds could stand there. To notice the two climbing people, one would have to look closely from the very edge, and without any sight enhancements they were still very hard to spot. Even The Collection¡¯s representative barely spotted them, despite knowing where to look. His Shade was gently waving on the wind, making him feel light as a feather. If he had two of those, maybe he could give one to Gis, so the wanna be mage, could reach the top, as fast as he did, but he already has been too generous. If - or rather when - those bloody monks will capture Gis and his people, someone could start asking questions. Kaihil would prefer to keep his connections to the local Guild, but it was too late for that, and he already invested too much in this operation to back down now. The fact that Gis turned out to be not so much of a bad guy, was another inconvenience. Sacrificing some random asshole (as Kaihil has seen him before) would be so much more comfortable. The operation will cost him some Mayran vine to ease his conscience. Still, worth it. This year''s batch was relatively cheap. He cut the handle of one of the windows, and slipped in soundlessly. Price of desperation Everything, including climbing all the way up, preparing some holders for Gis, and sneaking between the shadows, took them more than an hour, but they were careful and didn''t push themselves too much, so they didn''t get too tired. Well, Nix looked like he took a small jog. Alta has definitely got out of shape during the last year. She used to climb on the city towers when she was younger, and run away from the gourds afterwords. She didn''t dare to wonder what would happen in a year or two. ?I''m not even twenty!¡± She scolded herself. ?There is no way I''ll climb on a staircase when I''m thirty, if I let myself degrade like this.¡± On the other hand, a librarian shouldn''t even need to have that kind of stamina. Being a librarian was fine, and the pay was not as miserable as people think, but getting enough money to reach, even basic, mana awareness would take her a decade, and two or three years more for mana channels to stabilize. Without that she couldn''t even be a full time library employ. Well, that might be less than a year if she started while she was still young. Aside from that, she also liked working with her group (There was no way, she was calling them a gang.) and there is no better opportunity for her to develop her abilities practically. They stopped, inside a small garden at the temple courtyard, to make a break. Nix said he needed to recover some mana, for the hiding them spell, but she knew it was for her, and she hated herself for it. Nix wasn''t so blinded by the money like Alta or Gis, so endangering him felt twice as bad. Right now, the only thing she could do was to stay alert, and she was as alerted as she could, about the only monk they have seen so far. When the man opened the door, behind which was the reliquary, they give him five minutes, and then decided to see if he was still there, or has gone underground. According to their Intel nobody should be there at night, but they already knew the plan was going to fail at some point in the near future. They oiled the hinges, and searched the door for any wards or non-magic traps, before entering very slowly and very quietly. Empty. The corridor was long. Really long. And almost all length of its walls was covered in banners depicting mythical scenes, historical events, and some abstract shapes, that she had no idea what they could even be. Just after passing some newer ones, showing very detailed war against The Dissenters, founding of Atlaric republic, and other more recent events, they have reached few meters of empty walls, ending abruptly with the entrance to the reliquary. ¡°Too bad they didn¡¯t have anything more worth putting there. Maybe they are waiting for something important to happen,¡± Nix whispered bitterly. ¡°Yes, what a shame that nothing worth mentioning happened in the last century,¡± she answered in similar fashion. The lack of anything about the Skyfall was highlighted by the amount of depictions of King¡¯s victories and other great deeds, while his biggest failure was abruptly missing. Maybe the monks were receiving some funding from him. Maybe the king himself was visiting the temple from time to time. Maybe. Alta could understand them, but she still lost any remorse she had for robbing them. ¡°Look around the frame,¡± she told Nix. ¡°I will search the floor. This is the best place to put detection wards.¡± ¡°On it,¡± he said putting on his enchanted glasses. He invested in those himself, and paid for them more than he was comfortable to admit to Gis or Alta. It made her feel a little under prepared herself. As it appears, unnecessary. They exchanged a long uncertain look. ¡°Nothing?¡± She asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± he confirmed. No wards on the door. No wards on the entrance. That¡¯s a wrong building. And Alta really could use Gis right now. She didn¡¯t have to look at Nix to know he was waiting for her decision. Their group dynamic used to be simple. Lena was always waiting for someone to tell her what to do, and she would work herself to death, if she was told to. Nix and Alta were doing what Gis (or K¡¯hal, back when they used to work for him) decided, but those used to be quite flexible tasks with a mediocre level of freedom. But some time after she learned to use her Risk Assessment properly, she has become a bit closer to Gis¡¯s position, and she might have taken it a bit too far. Now she was in charge, without being even a bit more competent. Maybe a little bit, but definitely not enough. ¡°Do you think we can find the place where they actually hold it?¡± ¡°If we manage to run away without anyone noticing,¡± he answered sadly. He knew what were chances for that. Alta actually managed not to start crying, but that was as far as she could go. She didn¡¯t want to think about what just happened, or what it meant. She just mindlessly stared at the threshold. Empty mundane threshold, with nothing to stop potential thieves from entering. Or something with so advanced warding system they couldn¡¯t even notice a sign of it. They had nothing to do here. And so, she took a step forward¡­ *** Another cabinet have been emptied. Kaihil have heard that all the potions, produced this year, were supposed to be sent for sale a long time before, but the monks seemed to have stocked quite a few of them for themselves. And not just healing potions for emergencies. He just took forty bottles of something labeled as ¡°flesh-bending formula¡±, which was probably related to changing someone''s appearance or even actual shape-shifting. He should check it later, but now he had other priorities. Reluctantly, he gave up on the looting, as he already took many boxes of similarly exotic potions, and even more of those rather common.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He stopped mid-way to the exit of the storage repository. Maybe he should just take all of those? Not for the sake of having them, but to take them away from their owners. That could be enough, he wondered. He could limit his vengeance to the basic minimum, just to keep some decency. He wasn¡¯t even all that angry, and those people haven¡¯t done anything bad to him. Sure, he already knew they were huge assholes, but it didn¡¯t completely justify him. There were other ways to hurt them, and some of them were even legal. It was all true. But Kaihil didn¡¯t like breaking his promises, and he had made someone a serious promise from the very bottom of his heart. His conscience felt like it weighted as much as this stupid temple, but he stepped through the door, and summoned a knife to his hand. And then he saw even more potions. His first thought was: They must have changed the layout after my previous visit. And just after that he realized, that if this building have been changed into a storage, then there was high possibility, that the plan, he had made earlier, was currently useless. Now it was clear, why all of Lena¡¯s visions said they were going to be detected. *** Tiny lines of invisible magic threads were covering tightly the giant statue, and flooded to an unknown depth under the floor. With a shaking hand, Alta slowly inserted the spell-breaker into the stone cutting one of them. No sound. No light. And no other reaction noticeable for any of her senses. That was probably good. ¡°You want me to switch with you?¡± Nix asked. ¡°Just keep looking for any company,¡± she answered. The monument of Tilius the merciful was warded so densely, that she didn¡¯t think she could go back to work after losing the structure from her sight. The ten-meter statue served as column supporting the dome over their heads, and so the magic enforcing the building was mixing with all too many other ones present there. There was no way they would find the Band if it didn¡¯t have a dedicated tablet presenting part of Tilius¡¯s biography. It said, that he was meditating wearing that very same headband, ever since he was ten, and did it every single day until he died. Alta found the fragment, discussing how he would even use the meditation as a substitute of sleeping, especially pretentious. Someone with his level of skill didn¡¯t even need to sleep. There was nothing heroic about sacrificing it, if his body and mind has already been rebuild so drastically, at this point in his life, as they read in some other tablet. On the other hand, it must have been very good encouragement for novices of this convent, to follow his example. Alta intended no such thing, but she was grateful for it anyway. They didn¡¯t even intend to look for the other artifacts in that creepy cult symbol. Even searching close to the tablet, took them dangerously too much time. If she won¡¯t be able to pry the safe guard open, they were going to run. And everything was¡­ Click. Golden rose vines started moving next to her hand, in slow wavy manner, and stopped abruptly showing leaving a small hole in their original entanglement. Looking inside she caught a glance of some red fabric. ¡°Are we still alone?¡± She asked. ¡°Yeah, nobody entered or left, since you started. I couldn¡¯t miss anyone, even in those deem lights.¡± ¡°Good. Then help me, so we can run away sooner.¡± ¡°What can I do?¡± He asked calmly. Alta envied him his composure. ¡°Cut the wards when you see any sudden activity in them,¡± she told him handing over the spell-breaker.¡± I will try to pull it out with a wire.¡± ¡°Bad idea.¡± ¡°You would prefer to stay here longer.¡± ¡°No, I like your bad idea, but it is better to be self-conscious about those things,¡± he answered with a serious face. She made her best to suppress the nervous chuckle, that was pressing against her insides to get out. That was a long shot, considering the level of security trying to break more wards and bypassing them using a tiny opening were equally risky. So she used her only actual advantage and turned to her Risk Assessment. The quintessence of her anxiety was not supposed to be used like this. It wasn¡¯t even supposed to be used in any particular way aside from existing in less bordering part of her subconsciousness, then the one it was originally in. When she was twelve and learned how to use it, she could finally buy some fruits from the market, without standing over the stall, afraid to chose an apple that her mother wouldn¡¯t like. That was a very happy moment in her life, when she finally had some control over it, even if that was only a small step. And two years later she learned to use a mental switch to make more use of it. Right now she was putting it to some of the limits of what it could do. Nix could detect most of the basic enchantment activities with hie eyes alone, with those it would not be so effective. Your own capabilities are on a similar level. The widest part of the opening was less than two centimeters of length. A tight cavity next to it wouldn¡¯t allow even the thinnest of her tools, there was no way to¡­ Stick with the bigger one, and cut the second wider, if there won¡¯t be enough time. She took those of her tools that could be of any use, and decided to test if the wards would even allow them in. Start with the wire. You have a lot of it, so if it gets stuck or cut of, it is better than loosing something you have only two pairs of. Alta continued to use her perception on an overdrive, and slowed it down, only when she finally managed catch a corner of the fabric in a loop, she has made at the end of the wire. As her mental state returned to normal, she felt tired, and not sure how long did it take her. Not more than ten minutes, but that was still only half of the job, pulling it out without activating any contingencies build into the statue, should be even harder in her opinion. She was turning to Nix, to ask him if he could manage to break a ward or two himself, when she felt burning pain on her cheek. Going back to the reality in an instant, she focused on the corridor behind her, and seen a young novice, maybe even younger than herself, starting at her just as shocked as she was. His left hand was stretched in her direction, holding an amulet, and ready to cast some spell. Which he didn¡¯t do fast enough, as a dart seemed to grow out of his arm, and his panic racing heart only helped the paralyzing venom spread faster. The boy¡¯s knees haven buckled almost instantly, and Nix was already catching his limp body. The thief was moving silently as a hunting cat, even while drugging someone''s body behind him. He met her eyes, and despite his superficial composure, the panic was clearly painted on his face. They stayed silent not even whispering, as they were already thinking about the same things. Did Nix miss a snicking novice, that could not seen them from the entrance, and clearly reacted under a sudden impulse after seeing them? No way. The real explanation have crossed Alta¡¯s mind once or twice, but she has thrown it out of her head. Then Nix has suggested the same. ¡°The banners?¡± He whispered. That was too ridiculous. But also too terrifying. Even if half of those stupid embroidered pictures didn¡¯t hide anything, it still left hem with dozens of potential passages full of locals. She looked at the arrow with a tiny drop of red at it¡¯s head, laying at the floor, and then she touched the shallow wound at her cheek. That was close. She could have been killed. By a teenager that was younger than her when she learned to cast a structured spell, who managed to - somehow - shot an arrow without any bow. Just after seeing someone more experienced, they will be dead. And then they heard the voices. Everything changes It was hard to hear the quiet ringing, as the detector was laying at the bottom of the drawer, but Loar has wakened up at the first sound of it. Someone less experienced in the ways of the mind could have wondered if it was reality or part of a dream. Loar only checked which markers were activated. Only two. The fourth and the seventh. It was probably more in reality, but the alchemical activator had a few minutes of delay, before it sent the signal, and half of the time it would just fail to work. All in all, it was probably the worst security system in its price range. This investment was the most annoying thing he experienced in his fifty years of life. Even his closest friends tried to persuade him to stop wasting money. He had already replaced many detectors, as they had a tendency to activate during storm, which was the only downside that actually mattered to Loar. Today he didn¡¯t expect any rain, left alone a storm, and two signals could mean only that there actually was an intruder. Intruders identity was still in question, but the lack of any normal alarm meant it was no ordinary thief. It was at least five minutes since the enemy has entered their territory, and it was probably more, but just in case Loar took his time hiding the secret passage to his hideout, and covered carefully the manikin laying in his bed, and turning on the trap inside it. Good. Now it was time to avenge his brother. *** Alta took the strange amulets from the novice¡¯s wrists, and hidden them inside her pocket. Paralyze or not, she was not letting him keep a weapon while he was laying just next to them. The small commotion still didn¡¯t reach the statue, but the monks were still quite close to them. Alta didn¡¯t dare to whisper, and resorted to gestures. You. Hide. Go. Hide-Go. Nix seemed to understand what she wanted him to do, but not the logic behind her idea. ¡°I. Will. Distract. Them.¡± She said almost soundlessly. Not he seemed even more reluctant. Alta didn¡¯t like how he was making her the boss, only when it wasn¡¯t convenient for her, and when she finally come up with a plan, he acted like she was mad. She just pointed at a small window above the statue. Then at herself, and nodded. Then at him, and shook her head. You. Will. Not. Fit. He still didn¡¯t look convinced, but the expression on her face stopped him from fighting. Gesticulation just become too complicated, so she just resorted to showing him to wait. She took back the Spell-breaker and proceeded to search for the proper node in the ward system. Thankfully it didn¡¯t take her long, as has seen this spot few times already, but the voices had gotten uncomfortably close in the meantime. She placed the blade next to the node, and shown Nix to go. Her friend blended into shadows, as he didn¡¯t have to cover two people anymore, the effect was visibly better. Or rather invisibly. She was squatting behind the monument, hidden by golden rose bush, with roses looking more like snakes than flowers. It was actually so detailed, that she could see part of the entrance, if she positioned herself by the appropriate clearance. Seven¡­ Or maybe even nine, monks have been already been near. They didn¡¯t seem to hurry, but there was no doubt that it would soon change. Have there been some additional security measures that Alta have missed? Or maybe there was supposed to be held some kind of ceremony or ritual? Whatever the reason, seeing an unconscious body of some novice, would definitely put them at high alert. She didn¡¯t have to wait for a good moment, as she was pretty certain that the monks were already close enough. Alta was actually petrified, by the idea that one move would be enough to let all hells go lose. All the confidence she had while telling Nix to go, was now gone, and even when she made herself push the blade, the enchanted dagger didn¡¯t cut deep enough. As soon as she realized that, she entered panic mode, and stabbed the same place three times. That seemed to do the job, as the warding system has suddenly filled with mana. Well, not whole. Alta has disabled few strategic nodes, giving herself some safe start for her escape. In one movement she pulled her tools out of the roses, and jumped to grab the decorative part of the statue, she could safely climb on. The ripping sound hurt her a little, but even the artifact wasn¡¯t important now. Only thing that mattered now was getting out alive. She took a quick glance at the snake-roses to see if they were trying to reach her, but to her relief they were not long enough, and anything closer to her was disabled. That was when the not-so-paralyzed novice has grabbed her ankle, and pulled her down.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. *** Main temple¡¯s rooftop hard to get on, and after stepping on it Loar has probably woken up anyone that could be still slipping. He did not care. The rain of arrows he has sent there, just a moment before, didn¡¯t create the sound it should. Something was missing. All but one of the detection spells have failed to show any result. If he could only cast another divine ritual, he would be already spilling blood, but the gods have restricted the powers they lend to humanity, and even the Eternal King had to obey them. Waiting such a power at the very beginning of the search was foolish of Loar, but to expect that the intruder could resist even the Eye of Seekers, would be also foolish. Loar knew who the intruder was, and that man was not powerful enough to do something like this. The explanation could be a deciding hint concerning his real identity. Loar has already suspected his enemy¡¯s origin, but just because an answer fits well does not mean it is true. There was small probability that some divine artifact could counter the Eye of Seekers, but he was quite sure that a divine spell could tell him about it. Whatever the care might be, the intruder was close, and Loar didn¡¯t have to know his exact location. ¡°Shadow Razors,¡± he called the accumulated mana, that was just waiting to cut into something. The spell formed into wild surge of hundreds paper-thin blades flying in chaotic patterns. It didn¡¯t take long before an unobtrusive presence have revealed itself just a few meters away. The masked man didn¡¯t look like he was hurt. His scale armor looked like it just left The hands of a blacksmith Who even took his time to decorate it with faint green paint. Yet his posture was showing something completely different. Loar could smell The pain caused by his spell but couldn''t understand its source. Shouting more Shadow-blades just shown how hard The armor was. Whatever kept The man hidden must have also made him vulnerable. It could be good if Loar could trick him into thinking he could hide again. Doing so would be hard but if he¡­ The man has vanished once again. This time Loar has immediately shot the shadow-blades flying. Just to see all of them fly thru the air without any resistance. The old monk has felt some magic starting to work around him, and had to cast the same spiral of shadows as earlier. The intruder managed to protect himself this time, but thankfully the spell didn¡¯t seem to do anything. It just made him angry. As he was trying to cast a stronger spell to piece that stupid armor, the man who killed his brother vanished again. When Loar felt that magic tinkering again, he just summoned his sword, and jumped at the general direction he suspected the murderer to be. He called upon the forces within the blade to ignite it, but he did it too hastily, and couldn¡¯t grasp the delicate formula. Before he could make another try, an invisible fist punched him in the stomach, sending him at the edge of the rooftop, where he hung on two crossbow bolts, that impaled his robes, missing his body only by a finger length. ¡°I think that we can talk now,¡± the murderer said. Loar couldn¡¯t even insult the man, as he was so angry he could only scream in rage. Somewhere at the border of his mind he actually knew that all of this was effect of whatever magic was working on him. Resisting mental manipulation like this was something even a novice could do, but the last thing he wanted to do was to stop hating this man. ¡°It seems that I finally have your attention,¡± he said when Loar stopped screaming incoherently. ¡°Good, let¡¯s talk about the journals. You know what I¡¯m talking about, right? Loar had no idea what reaction did that man expect. Even if he could talk, he would never help him. Not to save his life. And definitely not because he was asked nicely. All that aside, the problem seemed to solve itself, when the man seen Loar¡¯s smile. It¡¯s not here, he wanted to say. You wasted your time, and soon you will die for nothing. *** Her bloodied hand held the last of the protruding element of the statue. Alta had to jump only half a meter to catch the window frame, but she didn¡¯t trust her aching ankle. If she failed and somehow survived the fall, the monks would finally notice her. Originally she hoped they would just assume a system malfunction, and just send for someone who could fix it. Either they had a lot of trust in whoever made this, or the dead body somehow made them suspicious. She tried her best not to look down at the novice she stabbed, when he tried to stop her. She was afraid of heights. And blood. And killing people. As long as the rose-sneaks were hostile, she was safe up there, but while going through the window someone could shoot an arrow thru her chest, as she would no longer be covered by the statue. She will have to act fast. Feeling her fingers slowly loosing grip, she propelled herself with all her strength. The adrenaline softened her pain, and made her reaction just fast enough to grab the edge of the window frame. She was never so relieved in her life, as when she seen that it could just open it, and didn''t have to break the glass. It almost didn¡¯t make any sound, but to her it was definitely too loud. Crawling outside she grabbed the Spell-breaker with intention of driving it into the wall. She didn¡¯t even care if she would damage it, all she wanted was something to help her get on the roof. ¡°I thought I made myself clear, that you should use it carefully,¡± she heard a voice. Startled she noticed Kaihil was floating in mid-air next to her. Because of his bloodied face almost, she almost didn¡¯t recognize him. That and his eyes full of green glow, like he overdosed cheep alchemics. ¡°Good thing I was just walking by. Those distress signals are really short-ranged. Do you have any more of those sticks? I would want to¡­ She couldn¡¯t hear anything he said, as tremendous pain spread through her body. Kaihil noticed that a bit too late, only to see her arrow impaled body drop down dead. The Pay Gisthan took another look at the scrawled map, and decided to keep walking a while more. The proportions were a bit misleading, but he was quite sure they were still going the right way. ¡°Wait,¡± Lena told him hesitantly. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I think it was one of the King¡¯s wards,¡± she pointed at the wall. The old burned marks were definitely the same shape as other wards closing the infected area of underground. Which was weird, since they were already in the restricted area. Could it be that the immortal asshole did take extra contingencies while making those? Too bad he didn¡¯t care enough to check if those didn¡¯t interfere with drainage system of the rainwater channel. Gis took a small scroll of paper and put it at the edge of the ward. Delicate hiss of concentrated mana has slowly started leave the ward just like the hatch they entered underground. An outline of door started to show up in the wall, but the process was even slower than before. He wanted to force it open, after the stone rectangle would start moving, but he was painfully aware of the dramatic gap between the pick of his power, and a flicker of fingers of the man that made this. Finally, the space in the wall became wide enough to squeeze through. Five enchanted lamps came to life, and did their best to give the place a bit more light. Gis didn¡¯t turn off his own lamp, as those attempts were didn¡¯t seem to get many results. The equipment must have been installed after the lock down, but it clearly wasn¡¯t used in a long time. Gisthan was actually more surprised that the door even opened, than the fact that Kaihil managed to bypass King¡¯s warding. All the things he would normally be ecstatic to study, now didn¡¯t interest him in slightest. Right now all he could see was the figure laying on some kind of ancient altar. When he moved closer, his lantern showed him the dark stains of blood on Alta¡¯s clothes. He kneeled next to the altar, and put his hand on her forehead. Cold. A stabbing pain made a sound somewhere deep inside him. So cold. He turned to Lena who was just leaning over her friend¡¯s body. He couldn¡¯t even try to imagine what she must felt. Gisthan wasted most of his life taking dangerous jobs working with dangerous people. By the time his brother has died in the flood, he didn¡¯t have enough humanity to properly grief that lose. Those last years made him a bit more human, but that girl was a different story. For someone who already lost everyone, seeing the last piece of their life¡­ *Slap* The sound echoed through the underground tunnels for a while, followed by a deep silence. Gis stared at her not knowing what to say. ¡°I¡­¡± she started losing the fire in her eyes that was there just a heart bit before. ¡°Kaihil said not to let her die again.¡± He nodded in agreement. He could feel Alta¡¯s pulse going up a bit, but her eyes were still closed. Gis took of his cloak and covered her, and then summoned a vile for his inventory, hoping it would be enough. Her reaction was quite underwhelming. After having the vile put under her nose, she should have jumped, or at least jerked away. Alta barely moved her head, and he had to keep annoying her for a while, before she became semiconscious. Just as he was considering using something more risky. ¡°Hey. Are you finally awake or not?¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Hmm.¡­?¡± ¡°What is square root of sixty-four?¡± ¡°Em¡­ eight¡­¡± ¡°Good. Drink this,¡± he handed her a flask with - not so hot anymore - chicken soup. Too bad an Inventory can¡¯t keep the temperature of an object for too long, but it should still warm her up. Some color has already started to come back to her face. ¡°So,¡± she started after finishing the soup. ¡°Why do you have numbers floating over your heads?¡± *** ¡°Dead?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± both Gis and Lena answered for the fourth time. ¡°And this is¡­?¡± She looked around the strange room. ¡°According to Kaihil,¡± Gisthan started explaining. ¡°This should be a forgotten chapel of some god. Maybe even a forgotten god. It was made by The Guardians before founding of the city. Your parents were quite religious, you should know what it means.¡± Alta took a look at the ring on her hand. It wasn¡¯t there when she escaped the temple. Or rather tried to. She had a hard time belying Gis¡¯s explanations, even whit those new eyes of hers.
The Resurrecting Ring of Dangerous Life.
¡°That some expensive gift,¡± she managed to say. ¡°As soon as you get better, we will be going to give it back to him, so that won''t be a problem. How do you feel right now?¡± ¡°My body is numb. If I was actually laying here for two days, I could imagine it will take some time before getting back to normal.¡± ¡°Take your time. Just don¡¯t fall asleep.¡± She nodded in agreement, and tucked herself tighter in Gis¡¯s clock. The stiffness in her body was actually almost gone, but she was afraid to move, not trusting her own senses. All the stories about resurrecting rings, were quite discomforting. Old lines of power have changed enough for them to have problems doing their job. Being transported to some abandoned chapel, after getting the ring placed on her finger when she was practically dead¡­ It couldn¡¯t go well. Alta didn¡¯t take long, and despite Gis ensuring her, that she can take her time, it was obvious that sitting on that creepy altar would not make her any better. Which was good, as they left the underground through the basement of the city archive, which was just about to close - not very convenient place for an entry point, if someone asked her. Getting to the entrance of the ¡®safe¡¯ part of underground took them around an hour, which forced Alta to reconsider, her previous statements, about being ready. Getting back to the guild grounds they meet more people than usually at this time of the day. K¡¯hal and his people were celebrating clearly something. It seamed like at least someone had some luck the last few days. ¡°Alta!¡± She heard Nix. She hugged him and greeted their hunter standing over the railing of the upper floor. ¡°He¡¯s watching over Kaihil,¡± Nix explained. ¡°We didn¡¯t really trust him after what happened. Especially after his explanation.¡± ¡°Where is he now?¡± ¡°He rented a storage room from the guild, to test whatever he managed take from our little escapade. It feels strange to know, that we were just a distraction. And the worst part is that, he seems to have some serious prizes in there.¡± ¡°Wherever he took them from, it couldn¡¯t be more difficult than our job.¡± ¡°That what I¡¯m telling myself, but¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just take the money, already!¡± Ult interrupted him. ¡°Don¡¯t be so impatient,¡± Gis scolded him. ¡°We had to make sure that Alta is alright. Now we can give Kaihil some time to test the artifact.¡± ¡°I would rather not wait to see what he can make with it. When I checked on him last time he was already preparing ingredients, and I could recognize most of them quite well. I think he is going to poison us.¡± Not a chapter
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That would be a funny joke, but chapters have to be 500 or more words. Here you have some spoilers instead, if you care: Spoiler: Spoiler Kaihil is anagram for Mikhael without the Me. Like a metaphor for losing part of yourself. No other name have any estereggs in it. Except of the main god of the who''s name is just mispronounced He?rrgott, which is Our Lord/God in German. I''m not German, just thought it would sound good. All the chapters so far actually take place before the PROLOG. Kaihil''s (Kike''s) confrontation was supposed to happen in this chapter, that is mostly why I wanted to make it a good one. I think you could even connect some dots from the previous chapters. And here are some major spoilers that most people would normally put in the book description, which is a good way to catch attention, but I like stories to keep some mystery: Spoiler: Spoiler The story is actually an Isekai. Collectors universe was created artificially as a simulation for colonists traveling to a new planet from Earth. But it is not a game, it is a real world with real people. The decedents of colonists who never actually reached their destination. Guardians were the people who were supposed to manage the simulation, but Ben decided to rebel, and play on God-mode (that a separate story too long to write here). The whole idea of The Collector was just a way to make a fight between an Immortal god and a guy whose only power is infinite inventory. It became a bit more complicated than that, but I still hope to write that part one day. That would be nice.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. After two months of writing I noticed multiple issues with the story. I still hope to finish it, but there are things with my writing style to fix. I can''t just promise you that the story will get better, because the actual interesting stuff will come soon, but I don''t think I would keep reading this story if it was something I just randomly found (Probably not). The Collector will be back. I will probably start it differently in the same universe, to go back to the corrected version of the chapters you have read. Maybe if I would put more time into it, things could have been better, but probably not that much better. Thank you for reading it this far. I was really happy to see that someone is still interested in the new chapters. P.S. If writing it here is against the rules, then I''m sorry. I just wanted to tell my two followers why the chapter isn''t coming for a while. I will delete this chapter in a week, if It is a problem. 888 888 888 88888b. 888 888 .d88b. 888 "88b888 888d8P Y8b 888 888888 88888888888 888 d88PY88b 888Y8b. 88888P" "Y88888 "Y8888 888 Y8b d88P "Y88P" This was supposed to be an asci art saying ''bye'' by the way.