Liam didn’t truly react to Imani’s leap so much as he’d been lucky to lunge out of the way at the exact same time. The feline landed silently, spinning around to face him again, the human now scrambling to get into the cottage. “Give me the rabbit.” The leonid’s voice came out as a soft whisper entwined with a growl. The golden irises were taking on an ever deeper red tone to them.
She’d yet to draw her blade, and Liam wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not.
Liam carefully watched Imani approach slowly, his brain scrambling to find a solution. He didn’t know Imani that well. If the first-mate in the Barb had been deemed a noteworthy hero in the long run, Imani had been so far down the priority list that her name appeared exactly once throughout everything Liam had written.
The tribe she came from was far higher in ranking, mostly out of being the big power within their corner of the world. If anything, Liam recognized the Sharpclaw name more than Imani herself. Which didn’t leave him with many options to talk his way out of this.
“Qyryzalthos!”
He shouted the name of one of the holy rites of her tribe, and for a fraction of a second, the red glow flickered. “How…?” Imani growled, shaking her head, the glow coming back, eyes sharp. “No, you will not distract me.”
“You are possessed! You are attacking me without purpose!”
“There is a purpose. I must have the gemstone.” She kept moving closer. “Do not make me kill you.”
“Once you have it, you’ll kill me out of concern I might steal it from you,” he answered, scrambling for the door.
It was only half the truth; chances were that once she had the stone, she’d run off, but the murdering part would show up given enough time. It was the exact same path the collector had taken, only now it wouldn’t be a frail, mostly-blind man.
Imani pounced, and this time Liam did not react in time. He futilely covered his chest as his body was slammed to the ground under the weight of the tauric feline. Her claws sunk into his shirt as she bent over, trying to tear it off in her attempts to grab Bunny.
A swell of desperation surged through Liam, unable to reach for the knife, he did the only thing he could to defend himself and punched her paws away.
There was a flash of blue light and Imani leapt away with a shriek, every hair on her body standing on edge as her whole body was jittery. The leonid’s eyes shifted their focus to Liam’s right hand, which crackled with the remnants of electric magic. Her eyes had lost the red glow, shocked as she eyed him far more cautiously.
He didn’t bother to celebrate at having discovered he could taser people and just booked it into the house, slamming the door behind himself before the red glow could take hold of Imani again.
“Fucking ow.” His right arm was numb and throbbing as if he’d just spent a whole day using it to lift weights. Every muscle ached, his fingers refusing to respond properly, numb and lethargic in a way that reminded him of having played with the snow without gloves.
“Liam, I can’t be hurt by normal means; just let her struggle to get it out until she tires herself out!” Bunny cried out into his thoughts from inside his shirt.
“I don’t know what the pendant might do if it activates inside of you.” He replied quickly.
“You said I was immune!”
“Immune to the normal application. Having the thing activate while inside your body is not the normal application!” At best, nothing would happen, and it would be no different from just looking at the thing. But at worst, it could mean her body would absorb it, and that opened far too many possible avenues for things to go wrong.
THUNK
The door rattled, metal hinges holding fast, but bits of dust and wood splintered off. Liam stumbled away, thankful that Imani hadn’t had enough presence of mind to realize she could just smash through the windows. “Tell Maridah I’m not in a good situation, if-”
“Wolf will be here soon. Her orders are to kill the leonid if necessary, and otherwise not to intervene.”
He swore under his breath. There was something fundamentally fucked up about being told that if he wanted to save someone’s life, he ought to find a way to beat that person. It was one thing to be told he was left to fight weakened monsters or large animals on his own as a way for him to train, but this? He would’ve chalked it up to Maridah being a deity and living for far too long in the jungle, but it wasn’t like he’d been any better as a writer. Some of his best characters had reached the point they did by overcoming insane odds and deep traumas.
With allies like these, who needed enemies, right?
Now that he was on the receiving end, he did not find it agreeable.
For now, there was a possessed mercenary hacking away at the door, and he would have very little time to devise a solution. His eyes fell back to the forget-me-knife, the focus of this “test” Maridah was imposing on him.
“Let’s do this your way,” he mumbled under his breath, closing his eyes as he unsheathed the blade and focused.
When solving a puzzle, there were different ways to do it, but it usually boiled down to two main paths. One way was to follow the hints and clues, test things out, use the readily provided tools. The other was to get into the mind of the creator and make it personal, seek out their personal goals and idiosyncrasies.
Figuring out the areas of the jungle that felt safe or not had been something akin to the second approach. Though Liam had taken it more out of focusing on his surroundings. Now he was staring at the naked, exposed blade, the way the firelight from the chimney danced on the metal, and he grimaced.
Maridah secretly hoped he would fail.
Because if she remained truly and fully unknowable to everyone, then she was safe.
Liam stared at the blade of the knife, how the light from the fireplace danced along its surface.
If he failed this test, then being in a position to guide the Goddess shouldn’t be too hard. As she’d inevitably grow in power, then the divine favors she could dish out would only become more substantial. And so long as she felt like she was the one holding all the cards, then Liam would see a very profitable outcome ahead as she’d reward him for being a good “follower”. The Goddess had not been entirely lying when she’d claimed she saw him as one.
At some unconscious level, he was sure that she’d dismissed the thought that he would one day become a demigod. It was hard to conceptualize and give credence to, even he had a hard time believing whether he’d manage to pull it off.
The thumping on the door was growing louder, wood splintering apart under the repeated attacks. “Give it to me!” Imani roared from outside, eyes glowing red and frothing at the mouth, her mind entirely lost to the red glow.
Liam couldn’t help but think how she looked like a rabid animal.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It would be easy, with Wolf on her way, all Liam would need to do was duck into the closet and wait things out. Imani was a capable merc, but she could not compare to an aspect; she’d be minced meat within the next few minutes. And wasn’t Imani just some tiny footnote, not even worth jotting down in the history books? She was insignificant in the larger scale of things, it was why she was here to begin with, a sacrificial pawn to Thalgrim’s plans.
Which was also why he wouldn’t humor the intrusive thought any further. To follow down that path would be to end up no different than Thalgrim.
“Fuck.”
He activated the knife’s forget-me-not power while holding it with his left hand, his right being too numb to work properly. His eyes locked on Imani as she kept hacking her way through the door, eyes wild and focused exclusively on the front of his tattered shirt.
“Jump off to distract her; I’ll trust in your timing,” he whispered to Bunny, gingerly placing her on his shoulder. “Whatever happens, don’t let her grab you while you still have that thing inside.”
Whatever questions Bunny had, they never got a chance to be aired as the leonid burst through the door. The mercenary glanced at the knife but it was as if her eyes glazed over. Her attention smoothly shifted to his right hand instead, yet that too did not linger, snapping to the black rabbit on his shoulder. Apparently certain that wielding the blade would harm her prize, she dropped the weapon and lunged, hands extended in a desperate attempt to grab hold of Bunny.
This time Liam wasn’t entirely caught by surprise, turning his right shoulder back while thrusting with his left hand forward. At the same time, Bunny had already jumped off towards the fireplace, uncaring for the heat and smoke as she began to climb the inside of the chimney.
Imani, in her desperation to chase the rabbit, turned her head away from Liam. His arm flailed as he missed the stab, the position too awkward to capitalize on the opening. The mercenary seemed to gain just enough of a mind to realize something was off and used one of her paws to kick him away.
“COME BACK HERE!” She roared at the chimney, throwing herself to grasp at the logs and scattering them around the room. Whatever pain she might have felt from the fire was completely ignored in favor of clawing at the chimney.
Her back was fully turned to Liam, and he did not waste a moment to jump on her; this time the knife found purchase. It pierced through the cloth, burying into the leonid’s back. She screamed, bucking and pulling away from the fireplace, trying to send him off. Liam closed his eyes, activated all four remaining charges the knife had, and prayed his guess hadn’t been wrong.
Imani froze, going completely rigid, eyes wide as a choking sound left her lips.
Liam pulled the bloodless blade out, plunging it back in, grabbing hold firmly of the human shoulders as he plunged the knife in again and again. There were no injuries, no gaping bleeding wounds, no torn pieces of flesh. Each plunge came out as cleanly as it went in, the only trace of it having ever occurred being the holes he was making in her clothes and the way Imani kept convulsing.
She collapsed, eyes wide, body immobile, breathing shallow gasps.
He didn’t miss a beat, hurrying to circle around her, the knife in his hand had a faint reddish glow, the fire contained within the reflective surface flickered and danced as if growing into an inferno. The enchanted tool vibrated within his hand, and Liam had to fight to keep hold of it as he angled the light of the fire so that it would bounce into the leonid’s eyes.
“The red glow,” he said in a whisper.
With a gasp and a shudder, a strand of red wispy smoke escaped out of Imani’s forehead, sucked up into the knife like a vacuum. Her eyes fluttered shut, a soft sigh escaping her as her whole body slumped. The power the knife held over her had vanished entirely now that it had extracted what it was looking for.
The memories coalesced on the surface of the blade like dew on grass, tiny specks of glittering red liquid that he threw into the flames with a flick of his wrist. They sizzled and screamed as they burned away, leaving nothing but smoke.
Liam looked around, at the fire that was spreading around the room, at the burns on Imani’s hands, arms, and chest, and at his own shaking hands. “Wolf, you’re there, right?”
“I am,” the voice answered from all around him.
“Great, then please help me get her out of this place before it burns down, also please tie her wrists in case she wakes up rowdy.” His tone allowed no room for arguing. The leonid weighed as much as a horse; it would’ve been impossible for him to get her out of the house in time. “Bunny, you can come out of the chimney, I am not leaving without the stash of aether that’s in here somewhere, please fetch it.”
The black lagomorph popped out of the chimney as clean as a whistle, not a hint of soot or grime or anything upon her luxurious black fur. “Boss says she’s happy you figured out the other functions.”
He chuckled nervously.
It was a blade meant for interrogation. The second power the knife held allowed the user to harm the victim’s willpower directly rather than their body. While the third and final power made it possible to extract memories from victims that were unable or unwilling to resist. Given enough charges, the blade could be used to extract someone’s whole life, leaving behind an amnesiac, while the perpetrator could absorb the information into themselves.
Calling it terrifying would be an understatement, and a part of Liam worried that the reason why she’d made such a thing was out of a desire to create “one last hurrah”. The blade had that original function to delete itself from the memories of others. It was custom made to guarantee the total number of people in the know of its existence would be two: Maridah, and whatever mortal currently held it.
The knife might as well have been called the greatest tool and greatest bane any noble or cult could ever imagine. In short, it was the embodiment of everything Maridah represented as a deity. A tool made to bury secrets, and a tool made to extract them.
All amped to a degree that could be terrifying in the right hands… or the wrong ones.
It was fitting to be called a divine tool.
“Yeah… I appreciate it. Having said that, I’d rather not have someone’s life dangled in front of me as part of a test.” He put his hands on his hips. “Please don’t do it again.”
“She apologizes and agrees,” Bunny piped up. “Bitch boss also insists we get things done quickly, the leonid will not remain unconscious for long.” She abruptly shuddered, then grimaced, ears twitching once, then twice, then thrice. Bunny took a moment to shake her head and glance over at him. “She… also suggests you accompany the leonid to Doeta.”
Liam did a double take.
“What?”
----------------------------------------
Divine tools details (condensed form, though tiny spoilers)
Forgotten Knife: This is a basic, palm-sized knife with a wooden handle. It looks ordinary, but its edge flickers with darkness in sunlight or near flame, visible only to its user.
> Passive: Exceptionally sharp, it cuts through tough materials easily.
>
> Activation Requirement: Needs exposure to light from the sun or a flame.
>
> Main Effect: Makes anyone that sees the blade forget its existence. This effect also renders the knife effectively invisible to others.
>
> (new) Secondary Effect: While active, rather than cause physical harm, it will drain willpower and paralyze the target. Multiple charges can be used together to strengthen the effect (doesn’t work on wielder).
>
> Charges: 5 maximum.
>
> (new) Secret Effect: Only usable on the unresisting. The blade will extract memories from the target based on the wielder’s intent. These memories can be absorbed or discarded. If the amount is too great, only recent memories are taken.
>
> Duration: Each charge lasts 10 minutes, activating multiple times does not stack duration but intensity.
>
> Natural Recharge Rate: Gains 1 charge per month.
>
> Creator Effect: Made by Maridah, Goddess of Secrets. Appears ordinary to other deities unless its powers are in use.
Rope Circlet of Dark Secrets: A circle of rope (the rope's length being 20 meters [60 feet] and 1.27 cm [0.5 Inches] thick) made out of an unknown material that seems to suck the light out of its surroundings.
> Passive: Great tensile strength and softness, natural insect repellent (it's the anti-lämp).
>
> Activation requirements: None.
>
> Activation effects: If it is whole, it will create a tear at the spot the user is pinching. If the rope is torn, it will seek to mend itself. If the mended rope is forming a knot (that isn't an unknot) then it will seek to rapidly shrink its length to the minimum spell-stable form.
>
> Bonus Active: The rope can exert force to fulfill its effect, however, doing so will consume (far) more than the standard single charge per activation.
>
> Charges: 2,000
>
> Effect duration: Until activated again.
>
> Natural recharge rate: 2x Charges per day
>
> Creator Effect: Maridah, Goddess of Secrets, makes all her creations inscrutable by even the most observant divinities. Unless actively expressing an effect, this divine tool will appear mundane in the eyes of other Gods.
Maridah's Iron Skillet: It is an iron skillet, great for cooking and has a rather smooth non-stick surface. It is quite sturdy and very easy to wash (nothing to see here, surely it has nothing magical about it, move along everyone).