ã€ŠDEATH QUESTã€‹


 1. Take a deep breath

    ¡°Hold on Hayden!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m holding on. Don¡¯t be scared.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not scared!¡±

    ¡°Alright I believe you. Shale¡¯s a very brave girl.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to pedal, don¡¯t let go!¡±

    ¡°Hey. Hold on one second. Take a deep breath.¡±

    Shale breathed in and puffed out her cheeks.

    ¡°Let it out.¡±

    ¡°Phewwwww can I pedal now?¡±

    She bounced up and down on the bicycle, impatient.

    ¡°You can pedal now. I¡¯m right behind you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re holding me, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep, yep, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Shale moved her legs up and down, the wheels turned, and Hayden jogged behind her with a single finger on the back of the bicycle seat.

    ¡°I¡¯m doing it!¡±

    Hayden grinned and stopped jogging. He put his hands behind his head as he watched his little sister ride freely up and down the paved riverbank, her black hair blowing in the wind.

    She brought the bike back to a stop next to him after a while, breathless.

    ¡°When did you let go?¡±

    ¡°Hmmmm, I wasn¡¯t holding on from the very beginning.¡±

    ¡°Hayden! You liar!¡±

    ¡°Haha! Sorry, sorry. Forgive me?¡±

    ¡°Hmf. Maybe.¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡±

    Hayden grabbed her and tickled her all over and Shale squeaked and giggled.

    ¡°Hahah! Hayden stop! I forgive you, I forgive you haha, Hayden!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Ha..y... st...p¡±

    I heaved deep gasping breaths as I sprinted down the road, holding Shale on my back. The countryside was quiet, and the sun was beginning to set. Sweat poured down my back as Shale¡¯s small head bobbed up and down on my shoulder.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost there, don¡¯t worry Shale, we¡¯re gonna make it!¡±

    Shale¡¯s arms suddenly clamped around my neck. She heaved and struggled on my back, kicking and seizing. I struggled with her and we both fell to the ground, and I fought to keep her from hurting herself as she thrashed wildly.

    ¡°Shale? Shale hold on!¡±

    Her eyes rolled back in her head and a frothy black foam spilled from her lips.

    ¡°No! no no no, Shale!¡±

    I rolled her on her side and shoved my fingers into her mouth, trying to scoop out the liquid filling it.

    She bit down and I bled, but I kept digging the black tar out of her airway and ignored the pain.

    She coughed loudly and a spray of black hit the ground, then she went still, and something beneath her skin struggled, twisting along her arms and neck before vanishing. I forcibly repressed my urge to scream, pulled her up onto my back and kept running.

    ¡°Stay with me, Shale, you¡¯re going to be okay. Shale it¡¯s going to be ok, you just have to breathe.¡±

    I blinked back tears as I ran, and as a beautiful manor appeared on the horizon ahead of us, I felt Shale¡¯s muscles start to seize up again. Black drool poured from her mouth and onto my shoulder.

    ¡°Take a deep breath, Shale! Breathe!¡±

    The clacking sound of hooves and the rumbling of wheels suddenly came from behind us.

    I turned around and saw an elegant horse drawn carriage driving towards us, and my heart leapt to my throat.

    ¡°Stop! Stop stop stop!¡±

    I jumped in front of the carriage, waving my arm wildly.

    The fiend driver pulled back on the reins with a curse, and I backpedaled quickly as the horses slid to a stop in the mud, rearing up and whinnying.

    ¡°Move, fool!¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°My name is Hayden Waltess, my sister Shale is sick.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn who you are! Get out of the road!¡±

    ¡°I have to speak with Lord Moddity. He¡¯s a doctor right? The best doctor in the country. He¡¯s in there, right? Doctor! Doctor Moddity, my sister needs your help! I ran here from Lecliss to see you!¡±

    The passenger in the carriage was silent.

    The fiend dropped the reins and jumped down to the ground, boots kicking up mud. He reached up to the flame that sat between his two horns, and pulled out a long, wicked whip made of pure blue fiendfire.

    ¡°Move.¡±

    I backed up a little but didn¡¯t get out of the way. I screamed at the carriage behind him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve taken her to every doctor we could afford, they can¡¯t tell what¡¯s wrong with her! Please! They say you¡¯re from another realm, that you know things that other people don¡¯t!¡±

    CRACK!

    I jumped as the whip snapped right next to my face, searing my eyes with superheated air. I stumbled backwards, seeing stars, tears streaming down my face.

    ¡°Tell me what¡¯s wrong with her! Please! You¡¯re the only one who can help!¡±

    The driver growled.

    ¡°The Lord doesn¡¯t have time to diagnose every filthy, broke, peasant that decides to come die on his property!¡±

    He flourished the whip, ready to strike me down, as I staggered backwards and screamed.

    ¡°I can pay! I CAN PAY!¡±

    ¡°Hold.¡±

    A cold voice came from the carriage, and the driver stepped back instantly, coiling his whip.

    The carriage door opened, and a thin, delicate looking gaian man stepped out, shielding his eyes from the sinking sun. Skirting around the carriage driver, I shuffled over to him.

    ¡°Payment.¡± He spoke one word.

    I pulled the last four claws I had out of my pocket. Blood from the bites on my hand left red streaks on the shiny gold coins.

    ¡°This is all I ha-¡±

    He waved his hand, and the coins vanished.

    He turned his head to Shale and snapped his fingers. A silvery floating orb appeared above his hand and I stepped back in shock. He pointed lazily at the ground in front of him.

    ¡°Lay her down there.¡±

    ¡°That thing¡¯s not going to hurt her right?¡±

    He didn¡¯t respond. He didn¡¯t even look at me. He just waited for me to set her down, disinterested.

    ...I don¡¯t really have a choice but to trust him here, do I?

    I put Shale on the ground and stepped back, wary.

    The orb floated over to her, and flashed a blinking blue light over her that scanned up and down her body.

    Lord Moddity snapped his fingers again and the orb vanished, and a bright blue pane of light appeared in front of him, covered in symbols I couldn¡¯t read. He looked over it briefly, then looked back at her. He worked his hands in a set of strange gestures and a complicated magic circle appeared above his finger. He pointed, and it vanished into Shale¡¯s chest. She shivered.

    ¡°What did you just do?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer, and turned his palm, and what looked like a clear crystal ball appeared in his fingertips. He crushed it in his fist and opened his hand again, and at the center of his palm between the broken shards of crystal, a black mass wriggled like a ball of black maggots writhing on top of each other. He waved his hand and it all vanished, then he spoke.

    ¡°She¡¯s not sick. She¡¯s incubating.¡±

    ¡°What? Incubating? Incubating what, I don¡¯t understand!¡±

    ¡°Wasps, I would presume.¡±

    ¡°Wa-... is she going to be okay? Is my sister going to be okay?¡±

    ¡°Ah, ha ha ha.¡±

    I¡¯d never heard a drier laugh. He looked at me the way one might look at a puddle of vomit.

    ¡°She absolutely won¡¯t be okay. A Souleater Wasp laid a clutch of eggs in her soul. They¡¯ll grow, multiply and multiply, feeding on her soul, memories, and willpower, until she¡¯s a mindless sack of meat. Then, millions of Souleater Wasps will burst from her body and, most likely, kill everyone in this country.¡± He flashed a gentle white smile.

    ¡°W-what! Fix her! Can you fix her?¡±

    ¡°Easily.¡± He looked bored again, and he stared off at his manor wistfully.

    ¡°Then do it!¡±

    The Lord looked down at me with distaste. He opened a palm.

    ¡°Payment.¡±

    ¡°I already paid!¡±

    ¡°You paid for a diagnosis. I diagnosed. Treatment is obviously separate.¡±

    I grit my teeth. Is he not even listening to the things he says? If he doesn¡¯t help her, everyone in the country will die!

    ¡°I can get more money, how mu-¡±

    ¡°Six hundred golden claws.¡±

    My blood ran cold.

    ¡°That¡¯s insane! How am I going to get that much money?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t.¡±

    He closed his hand and turned back to the carriage.

    ¡°Wait! Wait, just WAIT!¡±

    I reached out to stop him and a line of blue fire wrapped around my wrist.

    CRACK!

    I screamed and screamed and screamed and thrashed on the ground, clutching the burning ring carved into my arm.

    The driver simply stood and watched me impassively, coiling his whip.

    The Lord looked back at me over his shoulder with amusement.

    ¡°Aigoo.¡±

    He walked back over, squatted down next to me and spoke.

    ¡°For you, 600 claws is an insurmountable amount of money. But the numerous lords and ladies of this country would pay that amount in a heartbeat to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Honestly, they¡¯d probably pay DOUBLE. Think about this from my perspective for a moment.¡±

    ¡°For you, the imminent death of your sister is a terrible tragedy.¡±

    ¡°But for me it¡¯s... a quite welcome windfall.¡±

    I stared at him in fury. I¡¯ve never wanted to kill someone before, but now I know the feeling. I scowled and spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get the money.¡±

    Lord Moddity smiled.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll treat your sister back to perfect health if you do.¡±

    He stood up and turned around.

    ¡°But I¡¯ll be hoping you fail, in all honesty.¡±

    He put a hand out and the driver helped him step back up into the carriage.

    ¡°Ah, you probably have about two days, give or take, before she¡¯s beyond saving.¡±

    ¡°What!¡±

    The carriage door closed, the driver cracked the reins, and the carriage rolled along down the road towards the beautiful manor, leaving me and my dying sister behind.

    I took a deep breath, mind racing, and I ran a hand through my hair as Shale took sudden, twitchy gasps on the ground.

    I pulled Shale up and on to my back and was greeted with a sharp shot of pain from my wrist.

    ¡°Fuck! Aisshhh!¡±

    I cursed and my hand shook, but I didn¡¯t drop her. I held even tighter to the girl on my back and set my jaw as I turned away from the manor and began to sprint back down the road to the city of Lecliss.

    As the cooling air rushed past my face as I ran, a plan began to form in my mind. No, not a plan, an insane gamble. A gamble with Shale¡¯s life on the line. And... mine too, I guess. I shook away that thought. Shale must not die. Shale WILL NOT DIE. As the sun set below the horizon, the beautiful city of Lecliss appeared in view. Sparkling lights winked into existence in windows and within the low streetlamps along the tree-lined roads, casting beautiful reflections into the river along the waterfront. I dashed across the bridge and through the gates, drawing a couple of strange looks from the guards, rounded the corner and took off towards the east-

    SLAM!

    And slammed my wounded wrist straight into a person in a long black cloak that I didn¡¯t have enough time to avoid.

    ¡°Aghhhh!¡±

    I dropped to the ground in pain and nearly dropped Shale, while the person I bumped into simply paused their step, and turned to look at me as if they had barely even felt the collision.

 2. Remember the peach tree

    ¡°Shale! Agh!¡±

    I looked over my shoulder to check on Shale as I awkwardly staggered back to my feet. Ever since Lord Moddity did... whatever he did to her soul, she¡¯s been strangely still for most of the run, but after the jolt, she began to shake again.

    ¡°Damnit!¡±

    The brief stop killed my adrenaline rush and I wheezed as I jogged towards the inn that I call home, the stranger in the black coat all but forgotten behind me.

    ¡°Hayden! Hayden¡¯s back! Oh, Shale!¡±

    I heard Claire first, but Daimen had already vaulted the gate. My half gaian, half cat beastman best friend agilely landed in front of me, his feline eyes focused on Shale.

    ¡°You¡¯re all right?"

    I coughed and nodded at him.

    ¡°Shale?¡±

    I grimaced.

    ¡°Hayden, let go, I got her. Let¡¯s get her upstairs.¡±

    I nodded, heaving breaths. I staggered into the warm inn, supported by Claire, as Daimen carried the twitching Shale upstairs to our room.

    <hr>

    ¡°It¡¯s a mixture of Shadestooth leaf and Shuteye, and it¡¯ll keep her under for at least 12 hours.¡±

    The innkeeper, Ms. Lia, spoke as she poured a silvery blue potion into Shale¡¯s mouth and waited for her to swallow. Shale breathed slowly as she laid beneath the soft covers of the bed, at a glance, she seemed perfectly fine.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Daimen answered for me as I heaved in exhaustion.

    Ms. Lia handed Daimen 3 more little glass vials filled with potion.

    ¡°I wish I could do more.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done more than we would think of asking you already.¡±

    She patted me on the head, then slipped out of the room, throwing a troubled glance back at Shale.

    Daimen looked at me, then tossed me a vial. I caught it and pocketed it.

    Claire walked in with two cups of water. I didn¡¯t even notice she had left.

    She shoved the cup into my hands.

    ¡°Drink.¡±

    I put the cup to my lips... and guzzled the water down till I nearly choked. I was still thirsty when I finished, and before I could ask, Claire took the cup away and shoved the other into my hands as well. I downed it gratefully.

    Claire stared at me as I drank.

    ¡°What happened to your wrist?¡±

    ¡°...Fiendfire. Lord Moddity¡¯s driver doesn¡¯t like me much.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s already almost a scar?¡±

    What? Oh wow, she¡¯s right. I healed really quickly somehow... Weird, it was still hurting when I bumped int- ... oh.

    ¡°I may have accidentally bumped into a fae.¡±

    ¡°Oh how rare! Did you say thank you for the healing?¡±

    ...No.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Wait, did you ask them if they could heal Shale?¡±

    I finally managed to catch my breath, and I sighed.

    ¡°No, and it wouldn¡¯t have worked anyways. She can¡¯t be helped by normal means.¡±

    Daimen spoke up. ¡°So you met with Lord Moddity then.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°He wants 600 claws, Daimen.¡±

    Daimen flicked an ear in annoyance. ¡°Is he as powerful as they say he is?¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    ¡°Damn.¡±

    Claire spoke up.

    ¡°But he told you what¡¯s wrong with her, right? Now that we know, we could find another docto-¡±

    ¡°Another doctor that knows soul magic? Anyone who knows soul magic, for that matter?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Soul magic...¡± Daimen frowned. ¡°Hayden, what the hell is happening to Shale?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to know. You really don¡¯t.¡±

    I already decided there¡¯s no point in telling anyone about the Souleater Wasps. The only one who can prove they even exist is Lord Moddity, and why would he bother? Unless I find someone who can use soul magic, I should just focus on getting the 600 claws.

    I looked at them both.

    ¡°All you need to know is that she only has 2 days left.¡±

    Daimen¡¯s tail stopped swinging, and Claire¡¯s face went pale. She spoke hesitantly.

    ¡°We, we¡¯ll find a way to get the money! There has to be a way, there just has to!¡±

    Daimen and I didn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°We¡¯ll start a fund, ask everyone to contribute!¡±

    ¡°Assuming we somehow gained the ability to break into warded buildings, even if we stole the savings of every person living in the east end of Lecliss we wouldn¡¯t have more than 400 gold claws. Asking for donations wouldn¡¯t even get us a quarter of that.¡± Daimen spoke simply.

    ¡°As for people outside the east end, well, they¡¯re more likely to pay to watch her die, just for the novelty.¡±

    Claire went stiff, and sat back down, hurt. Daimen looked at me with a monotone expression, his cat like pupils narrowed to slits. He reached into his pocket, pulled out two golden claws, and set them on the table next to Shale, then looked at me.

    I rubbed my forehead as I stared at the coins. I already know what I need to do. And Daimen knows too. Now isn¡¯t the time to hesitate. I looked back at him.

    ¡°You remember that peach tree we found in the forest back when we were little?¡±

    Daimen replied instantly.

    ¡°Yeah. Last I heard, it was cut down, though.¡±

    ¡°Maybe the rain since then has made a new bloom.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. We should check some time. I know a lot of people who like peaches.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll bring a basket so we can carry some home with us.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Good idea. I¡¯ll see you around, then.¡±

    ¡°What? What peach tree, I don¡¯t remember that?¡±

    Claire looked confused, and Daimen went to the window and opened it.

    Daimen crouched in the window, turned to me, and nodded. I gave a grim nod in reply. Then he leapt out, and vanished into the night.

    ¡°Where is he going? Hayden?¡±

    I stood up, took one last look at Shale, took the two golden claws and left the room. I heard Claire chase after me.

    ¡°Hayden what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Claire I need you to stay here and watch Shale.¡±

    I jogged down the stairs and strode to the door.

    ¡°Hayden tell me where you¡¯re going!¡±

    ¡°You need to keep her head to the side just in case she vomits in her sleep-¡±

    Claire ran in front of me and pushed me backwards... or at least I let her push me so she didn¡¯t hurt herself.

    ¡°You¡¯re going off to do something stupid and dangerous, I just know it!¡±

    ¡°Claire...¡±

    ¡°You and Daimen act like I can¡¯t understand what¡¯s happening when you talk in your stupid codes but I know it¡¯s never anything good, that¡¯s why you can¡¯t just say it, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    She put her hands on my chest and heaved, but I just stood there, not budging.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna be fine Claire, just stay here and watch Sh-¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going off to die somewhere and you¡¯re telling me to sit and wait here for you to never come back, and just watch Shale die too? Why are you doing this to me? Why!¡±

    ¡°Claire! It¡¯s not about you!¡±

    I stepped forwards. Claire slid back.

    ¡°I NEED that money, Claire! SHALE needs that money!¡±

    I took another step. Claire slid back more and stumbled.

    ¡°Every word I say to you is another breath I spend not making it!¡±

    I grabbed her by her shoulders before she could fall.

    ¡°Do you want Shale to die, huh? Why are you doing this to me? Why!¡±

    I pushed her to the side and threw open the door. Claire ran up behind me and grabbed my hand with both of hers.

    ¡°Hayden, Hayden don¡¯t leave, please! Hayden, I have a terrible feeling about this, a terrible, terrible feeling!¡±

    I brushed her off and kept walking.

    ¡°Hayden, tell me what I can say to stop you from leaving!¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t say anything then, I¡¯ll be quiet! Please stay!¡±

    I laughed at that, in spite of myself.

    ¡°Hah! I bet you 600 claws you can¡¯t stay quiet for a minute!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll stay quiet if you stay, Hayden, please!¡±

    ¡°I win. Pay up, Claire.¡±

    ¡°Hayden! Hayden, I love you, please stay!¡±

    ¡°I know that already Claire.¡±

    ¡°Hayden! I hate you! Please stay!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie, Claire.¡±

    ¡°HAYDEN!¡±

    She screamed, loud, and stomped her foot. I stopped and looked at her.

    ¡°As soon as you walk past that gate, everything goes wrong.¡±

    She held her head in her hands, her eyes darting back and forth, before she looked up to meet mine.

    ¡°Don-¡±

    I turned and walked past the gate. I looked back and saw Claire kneeling on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, devastated. I told her.

    ¡°Watch Shale.¡±

    Then I sprinted down the street.

    I¡¯ve grown up with Claire, I know pretty much everything about her. Unlike me, who was born without a single skill, Claire has a couple powerful ones. I¡¯m not surprised that her [ O M E N ] would activate now. After all, even I¡¯m afraid of what I¡¯m about to do. But it doesn¡¯t matter in the end. She should¡¯ve been prepared to break my legs if she really wanted to stop me. But she¡¯s pretty much incapable of hurting the people she loves. That¡¯s what I like most about her. It¡¯s an admirable quality that I lack. I¡¯d hurt anyone for Shale. No matter how I feel about them.

    I slid to a stop. While lost in my thoughts, my legs had carried me to my destination, the Lecliss adventurer¡¯s guild. I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and was met with a rush of hot air, and a blast of sound. The place smelled like a balanced mixture of alcohol, food, sweat, and monster parts. The place was lively as a tavern in full swing, but the clientele was much more diverse.

    I saw five copies of the same fiend lady talking to five different men; occasionally one of the copies would vanish in a puff of flame, to the chagrin of one of her potential suitors. In a corner, a huge gaian man arm wrestled an equally huge fiend to a deadlock, surrounded by adventurers of all races that took bets and egged them on. A half gaian half deer beastwoman looked up from oiling an unstrung bow as I walked by, then her eyes went back to her work. I saw a lone, drunk, elv priest nursing a beer in the corner of the room, and it seemed like everyone gave him a wide, wide berth.

    Not many took notice of me as I made my way up to the receptionist/ bartender behind the long counter: a burly fiend with huge curled horns and glasses. Deep purple flames rolled slowly within the curls of his horns. He looked down at me and smiled.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°I need a guild card to take quests, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s generally how this works, yes.¡±

    ¡°Get me one.¡± I tossed Daimen''s two gold claws on the counter. The fiend raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°What manner of quests are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Does it matter?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I suppose not.¡±

    He tapped a finger on the counter, and a magic circle appeared.

    ¡°Put your hand in t-¡±

    I slammed my hand in the circle before he could finish. I felt like I was submerged in ice for an instant, and then the feeling vanished as soon as it came. In the air above the magic circle, a silver card winked into existence. I went to catch it, but the fiend receptionist grabbed it first. He eyed it for a second and smiled.

    ¡°Welcome to the guild, Mr. Waltess.¡±

    I swiped at the card, but he just raised it a little higher and read it out loud.

    ¡°Hayden Waltess

    Level: 1

    Race: Gaian

    Class: None

    HP: 13/13

    Str: 12

    Int: 17

    Agi: 10

    Dex: 9

    Skills-¡±

    I snatched the card out of his hand.

    ¡°None, yeah, thanks for that.¡±

    ¡°One, actually.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    I looked down at the silver card. Under the skills section, the expected None was instead replaced by:

    [ I N T E R P L A N A R passive ??? ]

    ¡°...What the hell? I was told I didn¡¯t have any skills when I was inspected as a kid. Also what¡¯s with the question marks?¡±

    ¡°Your inspector probably didn¡¯t have high enough skill proficiency to identify a skill of that rarity.¡±

    ¡°Is this skill very rare?¡±

    He pointed at my guild card.

    ¡°See the glowing orange? That means it¡¯s a unique skill. Only you have it. Rare enough for you?¡±

    ¡°How do I figure out what it does?¡±

    ¡°The question marks on a unique skill will only be replaced once you satisfy the conditions for the skill to activate, if it heals you, for example, you¡¯d have to be injured first.¡±

    I stared at the card for a moment. At any other point in my life, knowing about this would¡¯ve made me happy. But right now, finding out about something that was again dangled just out of my reach was just...

    ¡°Frustrating.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules, kid. Hope you figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Thanks, uh...¡±

    He smiled.

    ¡°Garam. Nice to meet you, Hayden.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure. Likewise.¡±

    I shook his hand, and he frowned.

    ¡°Whatever it is that you think you have to do here, kid, you should reconsider. I¡¯ve seen kids with that same look in their eye before, a-¡±

    I snatched my hand out of his grasp and walked away.

    Out of curiosity, I walked past the normal quest board, looking for any quests with high payouts, but everything had a payout of 15 gold or lower, usually involving fighting and tracking hordes of enemies, which could easily take weeks to accomplish, even with the most prepared of parties. I sighed. I turned my head and looked off past the revelry, towards a quiet corner of the guild hall where a giant quest board with only three posted quests hung beneath an ominous sign with red writing. I walked over and stopped in front of the nearly barren quest board.

    I read the sign at the top.

    DEATH QUESTS:

    ANY QUEST ON THIS BOARD HAS BEEN FAILED OVER 10 TIMES, TO PURSUE THEM IS TO PURSUE DEATH.

    I shivered a little. Haha. I wonder if something¡¯s wrong with me. This should be a serious thing, but all I can think about is how ridiculous this all is. I¡¯m level 1. I have no idea how to use any sort of weapon. What kind of omen did Claire see? I¡¯ve never been in a fight that I¡¯ve won. I just found out a couple of minutes ago that I have a skill that I have no idea how to use. Am I even doing this right now? This has to be a dream right?

    I pinched myself. Not a dream. Shale is dying. Pick a quest. You¡¯ve got three options.

    [ 3000 CLAW KILL QUEST: WEEPING AJAX: BODY OF FEAR ]

    The newest piece of parchment on the board, worth the least amount of money, awarded for killing one of the most notorious, terrifying and violent beasts the world has ever seen. A coalition army formed from the combined armies of 4 countries wasn¡¯t enough to kill him, and three of those countries were destroyed by him. The only reason only 30 people have died on this one is because only 30 people were stupid enough to try fighting him. If I remember correctly, the reason this kill quest was created was because Ajax the asshole decided to sit on a power font in our country, and as a result is now also nearly invincible in his new territory, or more invincible than before? That part confuses me, but overall it¡¯s a straightforward quest. Straight to the waiting jaws of death.

    [10,000 CLAW SUBJUGATION: THE MANSION AGGREGATE ]

    A dungeon that once looked like a beautiful mansion grew out of control to form a titanic, sprawling, deadly palace of opulence. Looks like at least a hundred adventurers died there, and who knows how many others before they decided to turn subjugating it into a death quest. All you need to do is find the dungeon core and destroy it. Problem being: the dungeon is constantly expanding and growing stronger, and no one knows how big it is. Not to mention that no one has even a shred of a clue about what the dungeon¡¯s boss is like. Even if you succeeded, would you be able to make it out alive? Just based on time constraints, I feel like I should eliminate this one, but it might end up being the most reasonable one on the whole board.

    [100,000 CLAW FETCH QUEST: THE FORGOTTEN LANTERN OF KRY ]

    Find a lantern that the god of the lost lost that we lost again. Irony. Well, there only seem to be a couple hundred powerful adventurers that died on this one, how hard could it be? Ah, no, there¡¯s more names on the back. Probably at least a thousand people have died or gone missing attempting this, probably over the course of years. Promising. The only good news is that the guild already knows generally where it is, so potentially this could be the fastest quest to complete... as long as whatever killed a thousand people somehow manages not to kill me.

    The sounds of the guild behind me faded away as I pondered. It¡¯s strange that the choice I¡¯m about to make might decide the fate of everyone in this room, and they don¡¯t even know it.

    The three bounties aren¡¯t based on how difficult the quests are, but rather on how many adventurers have died while undertaking them. But I can¡¯t judge difficulty on how many adventurers have died either, because of the effect of time...

    Honestly, all of these suck. There is no rationalizing a death quest is there? They¡¯re all mind numbingly difficult, that¡¯s why they¡¯re called fucking DEATH QUESTS. I just have to go with my gut, and figure out how I can convince some strong, probably drunk and/or suicidal adventurers to follow me.

    I raised my hand to the board...

 3. An eyeball in a glass

    In the early hours of the morning, a man slowly turned the pages of a crisp newspaper in his office. He examined the columns of text with a discerning eye. A quiet crowd stood around the door: four tired looking men and a group of six boys. Hayden and Daimen stood with the boys, watching attentively. The man finished, folded the newspaper up, and tossed it into one of the bags full of papers at the foot of his desk. He spoke.

    ¡°Get to work.¡±

    The four writers took breaths of relief, and the boys rushed up and grabbed a bag of papers each, then rushed out of the building and up to a line of bicycles.

    The boys threw their legs over the bikes and raced up the street towards the main plaza.

    ¡°8:20.¡± Daimen spoke as he pedaled.

    ¡°8:10!¡± Hayden replied from beside him.

    Daimen scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt yourself.¡±

    ¡°Watch me.¡±

    At the circular plaza, the six bikes all split off down different streets, each boy rushing to deliver the papers to their assigned districts.

    <hr>

    At the end of a long, quiet street, Hayden threw a paper onto the porch of a wide two story house. He pedaled in a tight circle, ready to move on to the next one.

    Bang! The door of the house suddenly slammed open, and a tall middle aged gaian man ran out, shouting.

    ¡°You! Boy! Come back here!¡±

    Hayden stopped and turned to look over his shoulder, then slowly pedaled back up to the house.

    ¡°Is there something wrong sir?¡±

    The man stared down at Hayden with a strange look.

    ¡°Come on in and have some lemonade, son.¡±

    Hayden grimaced.

    ¡°No, thank you sir, I¡¯m not thirsty, and I¡¯m on a tight sche-¡±

    ¡°Get off the bike!¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    Hayden meekly parked his bike at the gate and walked up, the tall man opened the door to the house and ushered him in.

    The man led him to his study, then left, (hopefully to make lemonade, and not to find something to murder me with) Hayden thought. He shifted uncomfortably on the leather armchair and checked the clock on the wall. 8:15. ¡°Aisshhhh...¡± He groaned.

    The man walked back in and Hayden sat up straighter. He walked around the low table and sat down across from Hayden, and looked him straight in the eye.

    ¡°I am Gideon Stroud.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Hayden Waltess, nice to meet you, sir-¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me sir, I¡¯m not a knight, I¡¯m a mage.¡±

    ¡°Yes si- um, alright.¡±

    ¡°You have any skills boy?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Any talents?¡±

    ¡°I can read and write?¡±

    ¡°Wow. How extraordinarily mundane.¡±

    Hayden scowled.

    ¡°Here. drink this.¡±

    Gideon Stroud pushed a glass onto the table.

    Hayden scrunched up his face, reached down for the glass, and froze.

    A benign slice of lemon garnished the rim of the glass, dipping into a strange, green liquid. Floating in the center of that liquid: a bloodshot, mutated eyeball with two strange purple irises, still attached to red tendrils of optic nerve...

    ¡°AHHHHHH!¡± Hayden leapt up and scrabbled backwards, screaming.

    ¡°Sit. Back. Down, it¡¯s an eyeball in a glass not a godsdamn lich. What are you screaming for.¡±

    ¡°W-Who¡¯s eye is that?¡±

    ¡°Yours.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Sit.¡± He commanded, and Hayden slowly slunk back into the armchair. As he moved, he felt as if the eye in the glass rotated to follow him. Gideon leaned in and spoke.

    ¡°What¡¯s the most powerful weapon you know of?¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with the eyeb-¡±

    ¡°Ignore the eyeball. Answer the question.¡±

    ¡°...The king¡¯s sword, Lacrima.¡±

    ¡°Weak. Stronger than that.¡±

    ¡°Oceaneater? The legendary ocean swallowing greataxe, heavier than a thousand seas.¡±

    ¡°Better, but still weak. Is that as far as your knowledge goes?¡±

    Hayden frowned. ¡°The archdemon Grimellgaast collects destroyed cities, and she uses the suffering of everyone who ever died there to forge them into powerful weapons of destruction. Her most dangerous weapon is a city called New York, it¡¯s powerful enough to destroy entire realms... But that¡¯s just a fairytale...¡±

    ¡°Not a fairytale. Real. You¡¯ve finally given me a useful example.¡±

    He pointed a finger at the glass. ¡°That¡¯s your New York, boy. Drink now, and one day you¡¯ll be as strong as an archdemon.¡±

    Hayden looked at the glass in revulsion.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to drink that.¡±

    ¡°Yes you will. Maybe not today, no. But you will.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡±

    ¡°Legendary weapons choose their wielders, boy. This one chose YOU.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need a weapon. And I definitely don¡¯t need THAT.¡±

    Gideon Stroud smiled, and leaned back in his chair. ¡°Come back when you do. It¡¯ll be here.¡±

    Hayden frowned, unconvinced.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have someplace to be?¡± Gideon made a dismissive gesture.

    Hayden hastily excused himself, ran out of the house, and jumped on his bike. The eyeball in the glass watched him through the window as he pedaled away.

    That night, a fire broke out in the city of Lecliss, and Gideon Stroud¡¯s house at the end of the quiet street burned to the ground. The man himself vanished without a trace.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    <hr>

    I ripped the quest off the board decisively. [10,000 CLAW SUBJUGATION: THE MANSION AGGREGATE ]. It¡¯s got a lot of unknowns, but the other two are absolutely certain deathtraps. It¡¯s still poison, but it¡¯s my preferred poison, all things considered.

    I made my decision and came back to the present, and felt something out of place. I thought that I was just too focused on picking a quest to notice the sounds of the guild, but even now, the room is absolutely silent. Hah. I wonder if they noticed the teenager ripping a death quest off the board and were stunned into silence. I grit my teeth, clutched the parchment tighter in my hands, and turned aroun-

    SLAM!

    Only to slam straight into someone behind me in a long black cloak that I didn¡¯t notice and end up on my ass... what the hell! Why does this feel so familiar!

    I looked up at the person in front of me. Tall, lithe, ambiguously gendered beneath their dark cloak. Their face was completely shrouded by shadow that seemed to overflow from within their hood. Yeah I¡¯m sure of it. This is the same person I bumped into earlier in the evening. Whoever they are, slamming into them hurts about as much as running straight into a brick wall. I need to stop doing this before it becomes a habit.

    The person in the dark cloak held out a hand to me.

    I was about to take it when I remembered: this person is a fae. Touching them, even indirectly, heals you, but drains life force from them. While the healing is nice, I don¡¯t really want to take advantage of someone if I can help it.

    ¡°I''m fine, thanks.¡±

    I stood up on my own, and tried to walk around them, but the hand was still there, reaching out to me.

    ¡°What, you want this?¡± I held the quest up and waved it back and forth and they followed it slowly with their hands, while nodding.

    ¡°Too bad. I got it first.¡±

    The figure¡¯s shoulders drooped in obvious depression.

    Haha. What a strange person.

    ¡°Party with me. We can take it together.¡±

    The person in the cloak paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

    ¡°Great! You¡¯re strong right?¡±

    They shook their head side to side.

    ¡°No? Uh, you know this is a death quest, right?¡±

    They nodded. Ah. My first party member is suicidal.

    I walked to the counter with the black cloaked person trailing behind me. Before, no one noticed me at all but now, everyone in the room is focused on... the person behind me?

    Before we reached the counter, Garam stood before us, smiling gently, while radiating an aggressive aura.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m not sure where you come from, stranger, but here in Lecliss, we don¡¯t wear Obscuras cloaks in adventurers guilds.¡± His fiendfire swirled, and a massive firey axe appeared in each of his hands. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to ask you to either disrobe on your own, or wait there for us to cut it off you ourselves.¡±

    Blades were drawn from sheathes as nearly every adventurer present prepared for a fight.

    I stumbled backwards and my teeth chattered as countless powerful auras crashed down on us.

    Under the watchful eyes of the entire room, the person in the black cloak let down their hood,

    ¡°WHOOOAAAAA!¡±

    and instantly drew gasps of admiration from the crowd as her glittering blonde hair fell down and framed her small face. She unclasped the cloak and pulled it off her shoulders,

    ¡°OOOOOHHHHHH!¡±

    and drew even more of a reaction when the shimmering moth-like wings on her back were displayed for all to see. The lightly armored fae woman stood at the center of the crowd, put a hand to her chest, curtsied slightly, and spoke. ¡°I am Halo Lightwing. I apologize for all the commotion.¡±

    ¡°WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!¡±

    and she drew the largest reaction yet as everyone in the room pushed to get a closer look.

    I blinked at their reaction. Is she someone famous?

    Garam¡¯s two axes turned back into the formless fire by his horns, and he bowed to Halo. ¡°Champion Lightwing, it¡¯s an honor. I apologize for my rudeness earlier. What brings you to Lecliss, and how can I help?¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer, and simply turned to look at me. And then everyone in the room looked at me too. Shit. Well. Let¡¯s start the sales pitch.

    I walked past Garam, and the crowd parted for me and Halo.

    Champion Lightwing huh... I don¡¯t know exactly what that means, but hopefully I can use this.

    ¡°My name is Hayden Waltess.¡±

    I placed the quest papers on the countertop.

    ¡°A week ago, my little sister Shale became deathly ill.¡±

    Halo brought over a pen and ink.

    ¡°I sold nearly everything I owned to get the claws to afford doctors and treatments, but none of them helped, she just got worse.¡±

    Halo dipped the pen in the ink, and signed her name beneath the hundred others on the parchment.

    ¡°So I brought her to Lord Moddity.¡±

    Grumbles of discontent echoed across the crowd at the mention of the man¡¯s name. Good to see I¡¯m not the only one who hates him.

    ¡°With his power, Dr. Moddity can easily treat my sister, but he won¡¯t unless I give him 600 claws. There¡¯s no way I could have that much money. He¡¯s sentencing her to die.¡±

    Halo handed me the pen.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not here to ask for your money.¡±

    ¡°My name is Hayden Waltess.¡±

    I scrawled my name onto the parchment.

    ¡°And I¡¯m going on a death quest to save my sister.¡±

    I held out the pen to the crowd.

    ¡°Who¡¯s coming with me?¡±

    Uneasy laughter, mockery, open contempt, yeah, they reacted about how I thought they would.

    ¡°Not asking for our money, just our lives. Oh, because I¡¯ll have so many things to buy in my grave! Bah.¡±

    ¡°So he¡¯s just a beggar in the end? Tch.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a liability to a party on the most basic of quests, much less a quest with a 100% fatality rate.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯m the liability that had the damn balls to pull this quest off the board. I¡¯m the liability giving YOU the opportunity to make more claws now than you¡¯ll make in the next 5 years combined. I¡¯m the liability giving YOU the opportunity to fight alongside Champion Lightwing! I¡¯m the liability giving YOU the opportunity to make a name for yourself, a name that goes down in the history books of Lecliss! You should be begging ME to join! Let me be clear here. I¡¯m not looking for adventurers who¡¯re looking for easy work and quick profits. I¡¯m looking for heroes. The heroes my sister needs to save her life, and hopefully bring her brother back to her in one piece. Cowards and weaklings need not apply!¡±

    I stood side by side with Halo and watched as the adventurers before me digested my words. I really don¡¯t have a better way to persuade them to die for me if this doesn¡¯t work. I crossed my fingers.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy. No one¡¯s going to-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll join.¡±

    The mixed race deer beastwoman I saw earlier with the bow stood out from the crowd.

    ¡°Risking my life to help someone in need... It¡¯s a no brainer really, right?¡±

    She smiled as she signed the parchment.

    I looked at her gratefully.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She put her hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯m Maude. Let¡¯s get your little sister the help she needs. And let¡¯s try our hardest not to all die out there! I really don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    She bit at her nails after delivering that uplifting and reassuring speech.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need a wayfinder. The mansion aggregate is not to be underestimated.¡±

    The drunk elv priest staggered over, looking anything but reliable.

    Halo nodded at him. ¡°We¡¯d appreciate a priest of Kry by our side.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ll have him! Cassius, to be precise. Me, to be more precise. Soon as the room stops spinning, of course.¡±

    He picked up the pen, and after a couple of tries, managed to scrawl his name onto the rough parchment.

    In the corner, the huge gaian man and the massive fiend were still locked in their arm wrestling stalemate. The gaian man looked between us and his rival with indecision, then finally spoke.

    ¡°My friend, how¡¯s about we call this one a draw?¡±

    ¡°If you have somewhere you need to be, you can just give up, I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°You, you, fiend!¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡±

    Slam! The gaian man relaxed his arm, and the fiend slammed it to the table, grinning.

    He stood up, massaging the back of his hand, and walked over.

    ¡°Sigh. A death quest is it? Why the hell not. Icezack Truth, spellsword, at your service.¡±

    He took the pen and quickly signed with a flourish.

    ¡°That bit about heroes, that swayed me, kid. Always wanted to be a hero, myself.¡± He grinned. ¡°And a cut of 10,000 claws, well that sways me quite a bit.¡±

    I looked at the signatures on the parchment and locked eyes with each of my new party members. Maude O¡¯connor, the beastwoman huntress. Cassius of Dun-Brabben, the elven priest of Kry. Icezack Truth, the gaian spellsword. And Halo Lightwing... I wonder what she can do?

    I walked over to Garam with the quest parchment. He stared down at me. I handed him the parchment, and stared straight back. He heaved a great sigh, and the parchment turned into five glowing magic circles that shot into each of our heads. I blinked as a rush of information appeared in my mind.

    ¡°May Illtreat be kind to you, adventurers.¡± He shook his head as he walked away.

    ¡°So... when do we leave?¡± Cassius slurred a question.

    ¡°Tonight.¡±

    ¡°Tonight?¡±

    ¡°My sister only has two days to live. We¡¯ve got no time. ¡°

    ¡°Aisssh... I may not have agreed to this if you would have led with that...¡± Icezack grumbled.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t lead with it.¡±

    ¡°Cheeky kid.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll need some time to prepare.¡± Cassius grimaced, wobbling.

    ¡°We all need some time to prepare. Should I write a will?¡± Maude pondered.

    ¡°We¡¯ll meet at the transport well in an hour. Be ready.¡±

    The adventurers nodded and departed. I stepped out of the guild hall and let out a tense breath. It¡¯s all set in motion now.

    Phewww. I¡¯m probably going to need a weapon, aren¡¯t I?

    ¡°...I might as well check, right?¡±

    I looked down the street and started off at a light jog. I, not for the first time today, had a slight pang in my heart as I breathed with exertion.

    ¡°I miss my bike.¡±

    <hr>

    I stopped at the end of a long, quiet street, in front of a blackened ruin that used to be the home of Gideon Stroud. Years ago, he tried to get me to drink an eyeball, and promised that I¡¯d actually want to someday.

    ¡°...I still don¡¯t want to drink it.¡±

    I hopped over the low fence and walked over the wreckage.

    ¡°About, here, right?¡±

    I stood in the spot where the study used to be,waiting in the weeds for something to happen. Did he bury it? Should I be digging instead of standing here like an idiot? Was he just messing with me the whole time? I scratched my head.

    ¡°Aish, it was a dumb thought anyway.¡±

    I turned to walk away.

    Thump.

    And something thumped on the ground behind me. I looked back and saw a black satchel on the ground, a ring of dust expanding around it as if it had just dropped from the sky. I looked around. Of course no one was there.

    I walked over, picked it up, and looked inside. I found a jar of green liquid with that damn eyeball inside, staring at me, and a note that read: ¡®told ya, boy.¡¯

    Godsdamned mages.

    I left the jar in the satchel and put it over my shoulder, deciding to never drink it except as a last resort. I looked up at the sky as I pondered all the information the quest planted in my mind. I probably have about 40 minutes left before it''s time to leave. Where should I go...

 4. A willing canvas

    I jogged back to the guild hall with the black satchel swaying on my hip. I sped up a little as I passed the street that would take me back to the inn. The next time I see Shale, it¡¯ll be to take her to get better. I¡¯m not gonna distract myself right now. And Claire, well... thankfully she didn¡¯t use THAT skill on me last time I tried to leave. There¡¯s no point in testing my luck by going to see her again.

    I made it to the adventurers guild only to find Garam leaning against the wall outside.

    ¡°Hey, Garam. I have some questions.¡±

    ¡°Took you long enough.¡±

    ¡°You were expecting me?¡±

    ¡°I had a feeling.¡± He sighed, then spoke. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    He pushed open the doors to the guild and I tagged along behind him. He locked his eyes on the curvy fiend lady with a single horn that was chatting up five different adventurers at once with the help of her clones.

    ¡°EEVEE!¡± Garam bellowed.

    The five identical fiend women looked over with sour expressions.

    Garam beckoned her over.

    Four of the copies instantly touched a finger to their noses. The fifth was a tad too slow.

    ¡°Tch.¡± She clicked her flame tipped tongue and walked over as her other copies watched with schadenfreude.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I brought you a willing canvas.¡±

    ...Canvas? What?

    Eevee looked around, and her eyes narrowed when they fell on me.

    ¡°HIM? He¡¯s so poor though...¡±

    BONK! Garam bopped her on the top of the head with a meaty fist.

    ¡°Aiiish! Why!¡±

    ¡°Levis-Tor, 1992. You owe me.¡±

    ¡°Bah, if you think saving my life that one ti-¡±

    ¡°MARWELD. 1997. You OWE me.¡±

    ¡°Tch, if you think breaking me out of jail that one ti-¡±

    ¡°INKGRIST. 2014. You really, REALLY, OWE me.¡±

    ¡°Ah, fine! Fine, I owe you! Let¡¯s get this over with already! Let¡¯s find another room, hurry up!"

    Eevee scowled at her clones as they laughed at her misery.

    ¡°...Tch!¡±

    Garam lead us to a comfortable office at the end of a short hall behind the main counter.

    I looked around the room, surprised. ¡°Can we use this office?¡±

    ¡°Sure. It¡¯s mine after all.¡±

    ¡°Bartenders get offices?¡±

    ¡°Seriously, death quest kid? He¡¯s the guild master. His name¡¯s on the door.¡±

    Oh. I looked up at Garam. He smiled down at me behind his glasses. Then he turned to Eevee with a straight face.

    ¡°This room works right? Start already.¡±

    ¡°Tsk.¡± She looked me up and down. ¡°Take off your shirt.¡±

    ¡°...What?¡±

    ¡°Take. It. Off.¡±

    <hr>

    I sat on the plush sofa, topless and a little perplexed.

    Eevee stood at a distance, holding her nose. She waved a finger and chanted.

    [R E F R E S H]

    The spell washed over me like a hot shower and a good night of sleep and I felt all my fatigue slip away, along with all the sweat and grime that had caked on my body from the hours of running. The pain and aches I had grown accustomed to feeling all along my legs vanished like they were never there.

    Eevee sniffed the air tentatively, then sat down beside me. She stared at me with an increasingly reluctant and bitter expression. I looked between her and Garam with confusion.

    ¡°Er...¡±

    BONK. Garam¡¯s fist met Eevee¡¯s head once more. ¡°Get to work.¡±

    ¡°Aiiisshhh! I was about to!¡±

    She rubbed her head, then held out her palm towards me and chanted, flashes of color filled my vision, and I felt changed, somehow. While I grew accustomed to the feeling, Eevee stuck out a nail, touched it to my left arm lazily and started scribbling countless runes at high speed with her finger. It kind of tickled. She rested her cheek on her other palm and stared lazily while she worked.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m casting modified enhancement spells on you and then I¡¯m tying their upkeep to the inscriptions I¡¯m writing into your muscles.¡± She drawled out her words with a blank stare as if she was tired of giving the same explanation over and over. ¡°I¡¯ve linked the inscriptions to ambient mana so you won¡¯t have to use your own mana to charge them.¡± She sniffed. ¡°Not that you have enough mana to charge them...¡±

    ¡°I never knew scribes could inscribe a person. I thought they could only work with weapons and gear.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my unique skill, only I can do it.¡±

    What a useful skill.

    ¡°Did it take you a long time to figure out what your skill did?¡±

    ¡°About a week or two after I started training as a scribe I unlocked the skill. ¡°

    ¡°So quick?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I was at the academy. I got my hands on the answers for the first test in advance, and while I was writing them down on the inside of my hand I accidentally added some mana. The skill unlocked, the ink turned into an inscription, and now I¡¯ll always be able to pass my first inscriptions test.¡±

    She smiled sardonically, lifted her chin off her hand and showed me a glowing cheat sheet on her palm written in tiny curling letters.

    Well. That doesn¡¯t help me with unlocking my unique skill at all.

    ¡°Did your plan work? You end up passing the test?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t need to ever take it. Once the headmaster saw my potential, he took me as his protege and taught me personally.¡± She paused. ¡°And that¡¯s how I learned that cheating is always the best way to get anything I want.¡±

    ...How irresponsible. But I can¡¯t say I disagree all that much.

    ¡°So you¡¯re a mage, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Can you do soul magic?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Soul magic is impossible without soul sight, and only people born in higher realms can develop soul sight.¡±

    ...Damn.

    ¡°I have to say though, this isn¡¯t as annoying as I thought it would be.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Working for free. With my normal customers, I charge high rates based on the amount of time it takes me to finish their inscriptions, then I take my time so that they have to keep coming back, so I can charge them even more. But you aren¡¯t coming back, so I might as well just give you everything up front. Also, I can practice the really intricate inscriptions people normally can¡¯t afford. Honestly it¡¯s kind of nice not having to limit myself. You¡¯re a pretty great canvas.¡±

    ¡°Thanks...¡± She¡¯s just assuming I¡¯m a dead man, huh?

    ¡°On top of that... The better a job I do with you, the more free things I can guilt trip Garam into giving me later!¡± She smiled mischievously. ¡°Turn around. I¡¯ll do your back now.¡±

    I faced my back towards her.

    ¡°How much would you normally charge for this?¡±

    ¡°In total? Ehhhhh.....20,000 gold claws probably.¡±

    ¡°WHAT!¡±

    ¡°Over the course of about 20 years and countless sessions.¡±

    ¡°So, you have a lot of money, then?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Nope I¡¯m broke.¡±

    ¡°How do you even spend all of that money?¡±

    ¡°Eh, clothes, hookers, booz-¡±

    BONK!

    ¡°Aiiiish! I¡¯m working here! You¡¯d hit a working woman! What¡¯s the matter with you!¡±

    Garam simply gave her a stern look. He kept a watchful eye on Eevee for a time, and once he saw that she was taking her work seriously, he nodded and spoke to me.

    ¡°You said you wanted to ask me questions. What do you want to know?¡±

    I gathered my thoughts.

    ¡°Champion Lightwing. Who is she? What does it mean to be ¡®Champion¡¯? ¡±

    ¡°You can ask her that yourself. You don¡¯t have much time, do you? You want me to waste it on a question like that?¡±

    ¡°Just make it brief.¡±

    ¡°The grand tournament on Chialis-Nor. It¡¯s a fighting contest primarily for knights, but anyone can join. Only the knights ever win though, because they¡¯re KNIGHTS, for gods sake. Five years ago, Halo Lightwing was a nobody who was powerful enough to defeat every knight in the competition, and she easily took first place. And then she vanished, till today. Next question.¡±

    Strong enough to defeat every knight huh...

    ¡°Fae can¡¯t lie. Is that true?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Hmm...

    ¡°According to the quest info, the mansion aggregate is in Ac-Rayate, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I thought that quests the guild could give were limited to within the borders of the country though?"

    Garam blinked at me.

    ¡°What country do you think you¡¯re in?¡±

    ¡°...We¡¯re in Lecliss, the capital city of Raun.¡±

    ¡°Raun is a state, not a country. Lecliss is just the capital city of this state. Ac-Rayate is just another state.¡±

    ...Oh. Okay that¡¯s a detail I somehow never knew.

    Eevee snorted, shifted to my other side, and started inscribing my right arm.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the name of the country?¡±

    ¡°The Carmelia Union. Or just the seven states of Carmelia.¡±

    He looked at me for a second. ¡°You do know that Ac-Rayate and Raun are different planets, right? All the seven states of Carmelia are their own planets.¡±

    ¡°I know that much.¡±

    Garam nodded.

    He probably thinks I¡¯m uneducated now... though I never did go to school, so he isn¡¯t wrong.

    ¡°What¡¯s a bathelgore?¡±

    ¡°Something not quite a lich and not quite a gargoyle. Harder to kill than either, but luckily, much rarer.¡±

    He looked at me with a serious face.

    ¡°Was that what defeated the adventures that took the quest before you? A bathelgore?

    A bathelgore? No. bathelgores. Hordes of them.

    ¡°...Yeah something like that.¡±

    Garam¡¯s brow furrowed.

    ¡°That should do it.¡± Eevee stretched, gave me a once over and nodded.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡±

    ¡°Different.¡±

    ¡°Check your guild card.¡±

    Oh yeah, that thing exists. Where did I?

    As soon as I thought about it, the card appeared in my hand. Huh.

    Hayden Waltess

    Level: 1

    Race: Gaian

    Class: None

    HP: 150/13

    Str: 120 (+108)

    Int: 170 (+153)

    Agi: 100 (+90)

    Dex: 90 (+81)

    Skills:

    [I N T E R P L A N A R]

    [O V E R F L O W I N G R E G E N E R A T I O N]

    [A L L E L E M E N T R E S I S T]

    [T E N F O L D G R A N D E N H A N C E]

    [ G R E A T E R P H Y S I C A L W A R D]

    [ G R E A T E R M E N T A L W A R D]

    [G R E A T E R M A G I C A L W A R D]

    [G R E A T E R F E A R R E S I S T]

    [G R E A T E R P A I N T O L E R A N C E]

    [G R E A T E R S E N S E D A N G E R]

    [T W O F O L D G R A N D E C H O E D F O R C E]

    [T W O F O L D G R A N D M I R R O R E D P H A N T O M S]

    [M A N A B U R N V I T A L C H A R G E]

    [V I T A L B U R N M A N A C H A R G E]

    [I N D U C E D A D A P T I V E I N H E R E N T S P E L L (0%)]

    This is... unreal. She just gave me fourteen new skills with barely any effort on her part.

    ¡°On your left arm I inscribed a standard array of protective spells and enhancements, along with a couple more powerful ones that I¡¯ve created myself. It won¡¯t keep you alive, but it¡¯ll pay off my debt to Garam for sure.¡±

    BONK.

    ¡°Aisshhhh! It hurts! Let me finish talking!¡±

    She rubbed her head, took a deep breath and spoke in a professional tone.

    ¡°Echoed force and mirrored phantoms together will theoretically let your attacks strike nine times for every one attack you make. The two burn/ charge skills will let you regenerate mana when you take damage and heal health when you spend mana. Those skills are all inscribed on your back. Your right arm is a bit special. I¡¯ve been researching how to give non-fiends inherent spells. I tied the results of my research to the runes on your right arm. Once it¡¯s fully integrated, the runes will vanish, and you¡¯ll have your very own inherent spell. Or your arm will explode. But you¡¯ll probably just get an inherent spell.¡±

    I stared at my arm in wonder... and a little bit of apprehension.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what kind of spell it will be in advance?¡±

    ¡°No idea. It¡¯ll be tailored to fit your needs, so you probably have a better idea of what it¡¯ll be than me.¡±

    She paused and looked at me, then snapped her fingers.

    A pair of magic circles appeared, one below my feet, and one above my head. They flashed once, and my clothes changed completely: black boots and a black jumpsuit, with a silvery breastplate, light pauldrons, gauntlets and greaves. Thin golden inscriptions seemed to weave through every piece of the armor.

    ¡°There. Now you look the part, at least.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, really.¡±

    ¡°So. What do you think of my work?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s excellent.¡± I clenched my fists. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll actually be able to help, at least a little.¡±

    Eevee narrowed her eyes at me.

    ¡°Hey. Let me show you something.¡±

    Her hand turned, and a shining platinum card appeared between her fingers. Her guild card? She held it out to me and I took it and read it.

    Evelynn Alan

    Level: 176

    Race: Fiend

    Class: Will o¡¯ Wisp (+ 2 more)

    HP: 150,000/36,582

    Str: 11,540 (+10,386)

    Int: 20,760 (+18,684)

    Agi: 22,380 (+20,142)

    Dex: 66,590 (+59,931)

    Skills: hidden

    My jaw DROPPED. Level 176?? What¡¯s with those ridiculously large numbers? She has three classes? I looked back at the fiend woman in front of me in shock.

    She took her card back with a smile, clearly enjoying my expression.

    ¡°Surprised? I could, literally, kill you just by sneezing with a little bit too much force while facing your way. Those four that are going with you have far more impressive stats than me. And I¡¯m still betting that you¡¯ll all die. Don¡¯t go getting your hopes up just because you got a little-¡±

    BONK.

    ¡°Aisshhhh! What is with you and the hitting! You¡¯re supposed to be gentle to delicate maidens like me!¡±

    ¡°Delicate my ass. You have 150,000 health right? Here, let me hit you 149 more times.¡± Garam wound his arm back dramatically.

    ¡°Ahh! I¡¯m done here! I help you out and you abuse me! See if I do any favors for you ever again!¡±

    She stuck out her tongue and vanished in a puff of blue fire.

    That was just a clone?

    ¡°Terrifying.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Waltess.¡±

    Garam addressed me strangely. I slung my black satchel back over my shoulder and looked at him.

    ¡°Mr. Guild Master.¡±

    He quirked his lips at that.

    ¡°I tried to tell you earlier, but I¡¯ve seen a lot of kids with eyes like yours come in here to take quests that they never come back from. The laws of this country stop me from openly refusing to give quests to parties that pass the minimum required composition guidelines. I try to just blame the laws for not protecting the people they should... but I can¡¯t help feeling like a murderer anyways, each and every time it happens. I don¡¯t want to feel that way again.¡±

    I looked him in the eye for a moment, then bowed my head to him.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for me to go. I can¡¯t thank you enough for how you¡¯ve helped me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t die. That¡¯s enough thanks.¡±

    I bowed a little lower, and left.

    <hr>

    A few blocks north of the adventurers guild, a tall marble building dwarfed everything near it. The transport cathedral. The inside of the building was simple: high, arched ceiling, one room off to the side that functioned like a storefront, where a man dozed off in front of a stack of purple and blue potions, and a huge, round well in the center of the room that looked like it held the entire night sky within.

    Maude was already there, and she sat at the rim of the well, staring in. Her casual clothing had been replaced by shiny green leather armor with a flowing red cape and cowl, and she was armed to the teeth. Aside from the shortbow I had seen her with before, a heavy longbow that looked as if it were made out of granite was slung across her back next to her quiver. I counted no less than 4 daggers on her belt, and what looked like a small crossbow built into the vambrace on her right forearm. One of her deer-like ears swiveled my way as I approached, and she turned to me with a smile.

    ¡°Oh hey, Hayden! Looking pretty spiffy there!¡±

    ¡°Thanks, you look pretty impressive yourself.¡±

    ¡°Oh you charmer, you!¡±

    I sat down next to her and looked down into the vast reaches of space.

    I¡¯ve always wanted to use the transport well. The kid inside me is freaking out with excitement right now.

    ¡°Hayden why are you going to Ac-Rayate?¡±

    Maude asked suddenly.

    ¡°To save Shale, obv-¡±

    ¡°We already accepted the quest with you, but you bring nothing to our party composition. We¡¯ll succeed or fail regardless of whether you¡¯re actually there with us. So why are you going?¡±

    Because even if the quest fails, I can¡¯t let Shale die.

    ¡°If it¡¯s because you don¡¯t think we¡¯ll give you a share of the money unless you risk your life-¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡±

    I interrupted her.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be going if I didn¡¯t have to. One of my friends has a powerful skill, it doesn¡¯t quite let her see the future, but it lets her predict what might happen given certain circumstances.¡±

    I looked Maude in the eye.

    ¡°She had a vision about this quest we¡¯re going on, and I know that I won¡¯t be able to make sure Shale gets better unless I come along personally.¡±

    Maude grimaced and ran her hands through her hair in frustration.

    ¡°Agh! I frickin hate future predictions! I had a whole argument planned out to get you to stay here! Foiled by one stupid fortuneteller!¡±

    She looked at me bitterly.

    ¡°Promise you¡¯ll just stay behind me once we get out there, ok?¡±

    ¡°I promise.¡±

    ¡°Good!¡±

    She nodded resolutely.

    Icezack (now clad in gleaming blue plate armor, with two two-hand swords strapped to his back), and Cassius (who now bore a wicked looking mace and a ridiculously large, overstuffed backpack) arrived shortly after, followed by...

    ¡°Halo?¡±

    The cloaked figure pushed back her hood and nodded.

    Yeah that¡¯s Halo. Chances are it was, but when she wears that cloak, it¡¯s actually impossible to tell. I still don¡¯t see any weapons on her. Maybe she¡¯s a mage?

    We gathered in front of the sleepy attendant. Halo paid him two gold claws, and he handed her a purple potion and a blue potion.

    ¡°What are those for?¡±

    Cassius spoke up.

    ¡°Well, you have two potions. The purple one stops the compression of space in the well from tearing you into Hayden chunks, and then crushing you into Hayden pulp. The blue potion makes it so that when you pass too close to a star you aren¡¯t flash cooked into Hayden BBQ, keeps you from freezing solid into a Hayden popsicle in the cold reaches of space, and it stops you from suffocating to death like a Hayden fish out of water.¡±

    The elv gave a drunken smile and a thumbs up.

    ¡°Nice explanation, Cassius!¡±

    Icezack laughed and dropped two gold claws into the attendant¡¯s hands, and the man passed him a potion of each color.

    Maude elbowed me. ¡°Hey, I can cover for you. Just make sure to pay me back those two claws once we make it back and we¡¯re all rich, ok?¡±

    She paused and thought for a moment.

    ¡°Ah, but if I die, your debt is forgiven.¡±

    ¡°...Thanks, I won¡¯t forget.¡±

    Potions in hand, we stood in an arc around the well. I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re all waiting for, should we jump in at the same time or something?

    I guess I¡¯ll just drink my potions...

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, kid, there¡¯s a proper way to go about this.¡±

    Icezack stopped me.

    ¡°Oh? What should I do?¡±

    He grinned, popped the tops off both of his potions, shoved them into his mouth and threw his head back. He downed both bottles, swung his head to the side, and the bottles went flying into the wall where they shattered with a clash. Then he leapt up and backflipped into the well with a shout.

    ¡°WHOOOOOOO!¡±

    Maude swan dived in with a laugh, Cassius flopped in headfirst and tumbled away, and Halo stepped in gracefully and disappeared.

    I chugged my potions.

    ¡°Sorry about the mess.¡±

    I spoke to the attendant who was walking up with a broom and dustpan, then I threw my bottles to the floor and jumped into the open sky within the well, and fell. Faster. And faster, faster, faster, faster! Every time I felt as if I had reached maximum speed I was proven wrong again. Stars turned into blurs around me, then to rapidly shifting lines, and then to a constant pulsing flash of multicolored light. I could see a glowing purple barrier that surrounded me warping and twisting as an intense pressure pounded all around me, and a loud, vibrating roar surrounded me.

    I caught up to Icezack and fell next to him.

    Icezack grinned at me and I grinned back.

    Cassius floated over, looking like he wanted to say something.

    ¡°Bluhhhh...¡±

    A long, long line of vomit streamed from his mouth and whipped out into space above him. Icezack and I quickly angled ourselves away from him.

    Below us, Maude yelled and whooped as she dropped, she pointed her toes down and brought her arms in to her body and rapidly spun like a corkscrew, smiling as she twisted.

    Halo on the other hand, was much more reserved. She simply reclined as she fell, with her legs crossed and her hands folded across her lap.

    "Great pair of ladies, aren''t they?"

    Icezack smiled next to me as he followed my line of sight.

    "Which of them catches your eye?"

 5. Played in an alluring key

    I just met Halo and Maude a couple of hours ago so I honestly couldn¡¯t care less about either of them. But if I had to choose between them... then I¡¯d go for Halo. She¡¯s quiet, and a little odd, but not in a bad way. She¡¯s really pretty too. But I¡¯m not gonna tell him that.

    I gave Icezack a look, and rolled my eyes. He laughed and shrugged it off.

    I looked down and saw Halo staring up at us. She... almost? smiled? and her hair and her cloak whipped around her as she calmly fell into the polychromatic pulses beneath us.

    Gradually, the light show began to change. My perception of gravity, or whatever force it was that kept us flying at these insane speeds, started to shift and level out. If before I perceived our motion as a fall, now it felt like a leap through an impossibly long tunnel of light. The turbulence crashing against the purple barrier died out suddenly and I started seeing individual trails of stars again.

    ¡°Not long now.¡± Cassius spoke, looking much more sober now after emptying his stomach.

    Space distorted back to it¡¯s normal shape, and the five of us were rapidly shunted towards a growing portal of light in the distance.

    ¡°Try to stick the dismount, kid! Makes a good impression.¡± Icezack advised, uselessly.

    The portal grew larger and larger until I could see the ceiling of a building on the other side.

    I twisted and caught the lip of the well with the tips of my fingers, flipped over, and landed on my feet in a knee deep pile of glittering metal keys. What.

    Halo and Maude had landed side by side on the lip of the well. They met each other¡¯s eyes, then stepped down and surveyed the empty room.

    Maude sniffed. ¡°What a warm welcome. Surrounded by all our fans.¡±

    ¡°...These aren¡¯t fans, they¡¯re keys.¡± Halo spoke.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Maude let out a fat laugh at the dry... joke? I¡¯m guessing that was Halo¡¯s attempt at a joke. Probably.

    The room looked like a near copy of the transport hub back in Raun, but with some glaring differences. Thin streams of light filtered through broken windows and into hot, dusty air. The walls were cracked and aging, and the floor? Well it was probably cracked and aging as well, but the thick carpet of keys prevented me from seeing it. There were thousands of them at least, probably far, far more.

    Cassius dragged himself out of the well and fell flat onto the keys with a thud and a clink. He stood up, brushed himself off and adjusted his pack.

    ¡°Are we all here?¡±

    Icezack raised a hand and grinned.

    ¡°Present.¡±

    I looked in the little alcove where the potion attendant was back in Raun. It was cleared out, save for piles of keys.

    ¡°There¡¯s no potions. No one here, either.¡±

    Maude pulled a face.¡°That¡¯s not ominous at all.¡±

    Halo put a palm on the door and pushed, and a wave of keys flowed down a set of stairs covered in keys into a street covered in keys. We stepped out in to the scorching heat to find the city a metallic wasteland, radiating hot sunlight in every direction off of innumerable... keys.

    I asked tentatively. ¡°... Is this an Ac-Rayate thing, or...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon thing.¡±

    Ah. The mansion aggregate was probably a lure dungeon, then. The dungeoneering rush was before my time, but I¡¯d heard enough about them to know a bit about the different types. Lure dungeons spit out special items to entice the unknowing to enter them. Lost, weary, traveler finds a shiny key out in a forest, then happens to stumble upon a beautiful mansion. They try the key in the door, and behold! It fits! Too bad the mansion isn¡¯t a respite, it¡¯s a deathtrap. Now though, I guess whatever caused the dungeon to aggregate out of control has also caused its lures to be produced a lot faster and in a much higher volume.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Maude pushed back her hood and ran her fingers through her red hair. Sweat formed on her neck and her long ears as the harsh sunlight beat down from above.

    It was the middle of the night when we left, but now there¡¯s sunlight... right. This is a different planet. No reason that both Lecliss on Raun and... wherever this is on Ac-Rayate would conveniently both be in similar time zones. This is going to make keeping track of how much time I have left to save Shale a little more troublesome.

    ¡°But even so... there¡¯s something wrong with this picture, right?¡±

    Dead trees lined the streets, fountains looked as if they had been dry for ages, and the wind blew hot whorls of sand that stung the eyes. I looked up and down the long street.

    ¡°Where is everybody?¡±

    No one answered, but the adventurers faces were grim.

    Cassius started walking, and we fell into step behind him.

    Our footsteps made soft clinking sounds as we strode across the key covered road. It almost sounded like music... Or no, that¡¯s just actual music. We all gave each other looks, then walked towards the source.

    On the stage of an open air amphitheater, a small, lithe steel golem sat in front of a rickety piano that seemed to be made entirely from keys and random pieces of wood. With its back to the audience, it played the tinny piano with a practiced touch, and crooned a soulful song to no one.

    When I¡¯m alone,

    I¡¯m playin these keys

    Ooh, I¡¯d like to know

    What you¡¯re hearin next to me, yeah,

    But I¡¯m all on my own

    Lost what I¡¯ve loved

    And I¡¯m fooling on these keys

    Lock it back tight and pack it up

    Ooh, I¡¯d like to know

    But I¡¯m all on my own,

    Cast out don¡¯t bring me home,

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, I¡¯m playin these keys.

    The golem ended on a strange note, but let it ring out anyways as if the song had resolved.

    Halo started clapping, and we joined her.

    ¡°Bravo!¡±

    ¡°AHHH!¡± The golem tumbled backwards and fell off the stage with a crash.

    Ah. We spooked it.

    <hr>

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had visitors in so long! You all don¡¯t have any diseases do you?¡±

    ¡°Uh...¡±

    ¡°Oh, what am I saying, of course you do! I¡¯ll keep my distance as a precaution.¡±

    The vaguely reptilian metal golem gave a silver grin as it quickly backed up to put 10 feet of distance between us, then shouted a little louder when it spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯m Rooster! I live here, world¡¯s ending, but hey no property taxes, right? What brings you all to the beautiful, flourishing city of Alma?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Maude. That¡¯s Hayden, Halo, Icezack and Cassius. We¡¯re adventurers. We hear you have a mansion infestation.¡± Maude smiled at the metal golem.

    ¡°Ah! Suicidal visitors! Do you all mind if I erase all of your names from my local memory as soon as this conversation is over?¡±

    ¡°Oh, by all means, go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Dear friend Rooster, are you the only one here in Alma?¡± Cassius asked politely.

    ¡°Oh I sure hope so, the evacuations have been going on for a while now, and to be honest, this is a terrible place to get left behind.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of any evacuations from Ac-Rayate.¡± Icezack commented.

    Rooster shrugged. ¡°Maybe you should get out more.¡±

    Icezack set his jaw in irritation.

    I spoke up.

    ¡°Do you know anyone here who can make the transport well potions?¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure, I can do that.¡± Rooster replied confidently.

    ¡°Wow, really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! A batch will take about half a day, give or take. Unless you want unfinished potions, which, haha, oh boy do you not want unfinished potions.¡±

    Good. At least the potions will be done in time, no matter what complications occur.

    ¡°Rooster, start making those potions, we¡¯ll need 5 sets when we get back.¡±

    ¡°When you get back! Right, so, I mean, realistically, you¡¯ll need maybe, 2 sets, or none sets. Probably none sets.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the vote of confidence, you multi talented little metal buddy! Start making those potions!¡± Maude beamed as she spoke.

    ¡°Which way to the mansion aggregate, golem?¡± Icezack spoke without restraint.

    ¡°Uh, all roads lead to the mansions, actually, just pick a direction, really?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Listen, just find some place high enough to see the horizon. You¡¯ll understand.¡±

    Maude¡¯s face went blank for a moment. She walked closer to us and spoke.

    ¡°Gather around, friends.¡±

    Her shadow suddenly spread out around us, and then we sunk for a brief second, then reappeared on top of a tall building at the center of the crumbling, key covered city. The hot winds howled around us as we stared in silence at the panoramic view.

    Halo spoke first.

    ¡°This is unexpected.¡±

    ¡°Seems more like the dungeon is hunting us at this point, no? Bearing down upon us and all.¡± Cassius made a wry smile.

    ¡°Fuck. I thought the pay was pretty good. Now I think we all need a damn raise.¡± Icezack¡¯s constant grin was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°Wow! What a pretty mausoleum.¡± Maude smiled bitterly.

    Hah. If I¡¯m understanding what I¡¯m seeing right now... this city might be the last place on the face of the entire planet that hasn¡¯t been absorbed into the mansion aggregate. Surrounding the city on all sides was a vast ocean of keys, forming metal dunes and steel whorls. Past that, at the very reaches of the horizon, the largest structure I''ve ever seen. Structure is really the only word I can use for it. That thing could hardly be called a building, and definitely not a mansion. Abstract and unintelligible, it leans and angles, violently and ungainly, as if some great beast with a flawed understanding of matter haphazardly iterated upon something beautiful until it pulsed and raged like a great tumor of architecture. Even from here, it seems to nearly reach past the sky, encroaching on all sides, a titanic cage, blocking all hope of survival.

    The planet Ac-Rayate is gone. Only the dungeon remains.

 6. You really didnt see this coming?

    It was midday in downtown Lecliss, and the streets were crowded and bustling. The sun was high overhead, and people moved quickly to evade the heat.

    A gaian woman in a beautiful purple dress stepped out of a tiny cafe and opened her parasol over her head. She drew countless admiring glances as she walked down the street, and she smiled as her purple parasol twirled over her shoulder.

    A small blur bumped into her side and rushed past. She looked down in surprise, and her purse was gone.

    ¡°Stop! Thief!¡±

    She screamed out as the small half cat beastman thief dashed through the crowd, clutching her purse tight.

    A small foot shot out and caught his leg, and he tumbled to the ground. A gaian boy rushed out from the crowd, pinned him down, and grabbed the purse from him.

    [ R E N D ]

    The boy panicked and let go as five sharp claws flashed through the air and tore his shirt open, nearly disemboweling him.

    The thief took off running before he could be caught again, and he disappeared down the street without a second look back.

    A little girl helped the boy to his feet, and the two of them returned the purse to the woman with the parasol.

    ¡°This is yours, right miss?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, thank you, you¡¯re my little hero!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem miss, it¡¯s what anyone would do.¡±

    ¡°No, that won¡¯t do at all, you almost got hurt by that filthy thief!¡±

    She opened her purse and pulled out a crisp red bill: a 10 golden claw note.

    ¡°Here. For your trouble.¡±

    The boy¡¯s mouth opened wide.

    ¡°Miss, there¡¯s no way I can accept this!¡±

    ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s not too much trouble, what if he had gotten away with my purse? I insist. Think of it as a gift. Get your little sister something good to eat, okay?¡±

    She pushed the bill into his hand and closed his fingers around it.

    The boy looked hesitant, but after looking down at his sister, he visibly softened, before bowing low to the woman.

    ¡°Thank you very much, miss.¡±

    The boy looked to the little girl at his side and he encouraged her.

    ¡°What do we say, Shale?¡±

    Shale looked up and gave a small smile.

    ¡°Thank you, miss!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°A 10 gold claw note! A real 10 gold claw note! I¡¯ve never even SEEN this much money at once!¡± In a quiet shaded alleyway off the main street, Hayden held the new bill up with sparkling eyes.

    ¡°She could just give that away... the rich really do live in their own world.¡± Daimen held out a hand, and Hayden passed him the bill so he could take a closer look.

    Shale looked up at the two of them with disapproval.

    ¡°Hayden, this is stealing! It¡¯s wrong!¡±

    ¡°Money is money, Shale. I can buy you your own bike with this! We can all eat whatever we want for weeks! And it¡¯s not stealing. This was a gift Shale, a gift.¡±

    Shale pouted. Hayden pinched her cheeks.

    ¡°Say money is money Shale.¡±

    ¡°Haydeeeeen stoooop!¡±

    ¡°Shale?¡±

    ¡°Money is moneyyy, okay I get it Haydeeen!¡±

    Hayden let go of her cheeks and Shale rubbed her face.

    Daimen put a hand on her head and mussed up her hair. Shale rolled her head back and forth with the motion of his palm and giggled.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be hard to make any more money with this method though. Could get lucky if we tried it over on the west end but, I wouldn¡¯t risk it. Too many people will remember this, and people will talk. They won¡¯t remember our faces, but it¡¯s easy enough to put two and two together.¡± Daimen said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think of something else for next time then. No big deal.¡± Hayden grinned. ¡°For now lets go to the bakery and stuff Shale full of croissants.¡±

    ¡°I like this plan!¡± Shale beamed.

    Daimen handed the note back over to Hayden with a smile.

    Ah-

    A sudden gust of wind ripped the bill out of Daimen¡¯s hand and whipped it high into the air. The kids heads all turned up in despair as it fluttered away, but then it suddenly turned and shot straight down towards them. Hayden followed it down with his eyes...

    and found himself face to face with a knight in shining white armor that squatted directly in front of him.

    ¡°Boo.¡±

    Ah!

    The trio took a step back from the armored figure that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

    The tall, lanky half cat beastman in form fitting white plate stood up slowly and stretched, the 10 gold claw note hovering above his hand on gusts of air.

    A cartoonish, belittling voice came from behind the man¡¯s white helm.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Well howdy, kids! Isn¡¯t this just a super day?¡±

    He turned to look at Hayden.

    ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t Mr. best friend! The little man with all the plans. Oh, and Ms. little sister as well? It¡¯s turning out to be a real orphan family outing, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Daimen clenched his fists as he stared up at the dark, cross shaped slit on the face of the man¡¯s helm.

    ¡°What do you want, Hyde.¡±

    The man turned to Daimen.

    ¡°It¡¯s Sir Brighteye now, little brother. Sir. Bright. Eye.¡±

    He leaned in and punctuated the three words with three flicks on Daimen¡¯s cat-like ears that Daimen tried and failed to avoid.

    Hyde mimicked Shale with a high pitched voice.

    ¡°¡®Hayden this is stealing... it¡¯s wrong!¡¯ You should really listen to Ms. little sister there, Mr. best friend. She¡¯s got a good head on her shoulders. Cause stealing¡¯s a crime, you know?¡±

    A whispering, uncomfortable wind started to pick up all around them, seemingly innocuous but sharp as blades, whistling past their ears and biting at their skin.

    ¡°And crimes are punished by execution in Lecliss, you know?¡±

    A lock of Shale¡¯s black hair hit the ground.

    ¡°Hayden?¡± Shale looked around fearfully.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, Shale.¡±

    Hayden gritted his teeth and stood stock still. Shale whimpered and did the same. Tiny red lines popped up on Hayden and Daimen¡¯s arms and necks as thin twisting wires of wind continuously left hairlike cuts along their bodies.

    Daimen spoke calmly.

    ¡°You and I both know you don¡¯t even care, Hyde. Give the money back.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean this? You want it? Here, take it.¡±

    He held out his hand and opened his palm, and the 10 gold claw note stood straight up above it, flapping wildly at its edges as rapid jets of wind tore at it. Hayden and Daimen scowled.

    ¡°Ah but, this is stolen money, now isn¡¯t it? If the authorities found out that you kids had this, you¡¯d be in real big trouble, wouldn¡¯t you? Lucky I¡¯m here! Let me solve all your problems real quick.¡±

    Hayden winced as a violent burst of air shredded the bill to oblivion. Not even a scrap was left.

    ¡°There. Aren¡¯t I generous? What do we say, Shale?¡±

    Shale looked at the white knight with reluctance. ¡°...Thank you, sir...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very welcome, young lady!¡±

    A line of red appeared across Shale¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Ah-¡±

    A curtain of blood ran down her face and into her eyes.

    ¡°Ahh, ahh, AHHHHH!!¡±

    ¡°SHALE!¡± Hayden screamed and grabbed his sister as she fainted.

    Daimen¡¯s eyes turned wild, his claws popped out and he lunged at Hyde in fury.

    [ R E N -

    Daimen¡¯s skill activation was cut short as Hyde¡¯s fist slammed into his gut.

    He fell to his knees and vomited blood to the ground.

    Hyde sniffed and waved his tail back and forth lazily.

    ¡°Come on, little brother.¡±

    He crouched next to Daimen.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re stupid, but you REALLY didn¡¯t see this coming?¡±

    Daimen spit out mouthfuls of blood and curled up on the ground, gritting his red dyed teeth in pain.

    ¡°No one BREATHES in Lecliss without me knowing. I knew about your half baked plan to get rich quick as soon as your little friend came up with it.¡±

    Hyde stood up and looked over the three bleeding children with glee.

    ¡°Aigoo, too bad, little criminals.¡±

    He tapped the side of his helm mockingly.

    ¡°Try to think at least a couple steps ahead next time, please?¡±

    The white knight shook his head and vanished on the spot, leaving behind a booming laughter that echoed with the wind.

    <hr>

    ¡°We should have seen this coming. I could have been better prepared.¡±

    We descended from the tall building with Maude¡¯s aid, and Cassius wandered off to the side, mumbling.

    ¡°How? There was no way we could have known.¡± Maude looked irritated.

    ¡°So it¡¯s big. That doesn¡¯t change what we need to do.¡±

    I looked at each of the adventurers, hoping they didn¡¯t get cold feet now.

    Icezack massaged his brow. ¡°Yes, the dungeon is big. Too big. We¡¯re already in it¡¯s sphere of influence. Which means...¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s an illusion dungeon, we¡¯ve been in the illusion since the moment we set foot here.¡± Halo spoke.

    ¡°And judging by the hordes of bathelgores we saw in the quest info, it¡¯s got a pretty good chance of being an illusion dungeon.¡± Maude bit her nails.

    Why? Because bathelgores usually only show up one at a time? Or is it something else?

    Maude continued. ¡°Well, we can¡¯t leave Ac-Rayate, that¡¯s for sure. The first rule of illusions is that the obvious route to safety always means death. If we¡¯re in an illusion and we retreat through the well we¡¯ll lose our will to fight the illusion and we¡¯ll all die.¡±

    ¡°We came here on a death quest anyways, just cause the damn dungeon¡¯s a little bigger than we expected don¡¯t mean we¡¯re giving up. Leaving was never an option.¡± Icezack said brusquely.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Maude relented.

    ¡°Once Cassius finishes his divination, we may begin.¡± Halo said, decisively.

    I looked over at where Cassius knelt on a rug he produced from his giant backpack. He closed his eyes, held his palms turned out to the sky, and chanted.

    O Humble Kry, Lord of the Lost, watch us as we wander, and bless us, so that you may serve as our center...

    <hr>

    While Cassius prayed, I wandered, kicking keys aside pointlessly.

    Icezack vanished, saying something about needing a stiff drink.

    Maude sat alone on a rooftop, talking... to her shadow? It seemed like?

    I ended up in front of the rickety homemade piano on the amphitheater stage. I tapped at the keys, playing an old melody I knew.

    ¡°You play?¡± Rooster hopped onto the stage next to me.

    ¡°Just a little... you¡¯re missing a key.¡±

    ¡°The high B flat, I know! It¡¯s the rarest one!¡±

    ¡°They have rarities? Aren¡¯t they all the same?¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± Rooster picked up two keys off the ground. When he tapped them both, they made distinctly different tones, despite looking exactly the same.

    ¡°See? We¡¯ve got a G and a C sharp. Pretty common.¡± He tossed the keys over his shoulder. ¡°There are, presumably, 88 different keys. Like a piano! I¡¯ve never been able to find that high B flat though. And I¡¯ve been looking a long, long time!¡±

    Huh.

    Rooster began to obsessively pick up keys searching for his B flat, and I left him alone and walked back the way I came.

    Halo stood a little ways away from Cassius with her hands folded behind her, staring off at the distance. She had taken off her black cloak because the heat, and now wore just her light armor. I don¡¯t see the cloak on her though. I wonder where she put it.

    ¡°Hey, Halo?¡±

    She turned to me.

    ¡°You¡¯re the champion of the grand tournament on Chialis-Nor, right? The one that the knights fight in?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Did you ever fight a knight named Sir Brighteye?¡±

    She paused, thought about it for a second, and then nodded again.

    ¡°Did you kick his ass?¡±

    Halo smiled a little. ¡°Not literally, but I believe, in the words of the announcers, he was beaten, thrashed, and humiliated by me.¡± She cocked her head to the side. ¡°Does that count?¡±

    I smirked. Wish I could¡¯ve seen that. ¡°That definitely counts. Good work.¡±

    Halo smiled brightly. She reacts well to compliments it seems.

    ¡°Hey why¡¯d you say that you weren¡¯t strong when we first met?¡±

    Halo looked at me. ¡°Because I¡¯m powerless.¡±

    What?

    ¡°Cassius!¡± Icezack wandered back, shouting.

    ¡°We have our direction?¡±

    Cassius¡¯ eyes opened, glowing with a golden light, and he turned and pointed to the south west.

    ¡°We have our direction.¡±

    <hr>

    The five of us stood at the end of the city of Alma, at the edge of the dune of keys, facing the horizon.

    Icezack lifted a finger.

    A monumental spire of ice lifted out of the ground in front of him, spearing up to the sky, casting aside waves of keys.

    He pointed, and the spire turned into a long, covered, icy walkway from here to the horizon, cutting through the dunes spilling a waterfall of keys off to either side.

    I can¡¯t even bring myself to be amazed by the sight, to me these four are practically gods, nothing they can do will surprise me.

    Rooster waved farewell, Maude¡¯s shadow wrapped around us, and we instantly emerged from the shadows at the end of the long walkway, in front of a completely normal looking set of black double doors with brass handles at the top of a short set of elegant white marble stairs. As long as I didn¡¯t turn my head to look at the jagged wood and glass sticking out all around us like exploded cysts I could almost pretend that this was the entrance to a normal house, not a death dungeon.

    Maude snorted. ¡°...What a shitty looking door.¡± She went up to the handles and pulled. ¡°Locked. Drat, guess we¡¯re done here friends, who knows where we could possibly find a key.¡±

    I don¡¯t know why, but I looked up. There, hanging off a sharp icy protrusion on the top of the end of Icezack¡¯s walkway, I saw a single key that hadn¡¯t been shunted aside, glinting in the light.

    As soon as I saw it, it slipped, and with a ring it fell, straight into my hands.

    I tapped it against the ice and listened to the sound it made as it rang out.

    Oh hey. High B flat. I looked back in the direction of Alma. Is it rare? Or is Rooster just really unlucky?