“Food is the great equalizer! It’s the one thing that brings all together!
-Words of an anonymous food stand owner
*=====*
The metal doors to the mod dock swung open as the small crowd of undead returned, “We’re back!” Mori shouted into the illuminated warehouse, lit by bright gems lining the ceiling. Passing a stack of crates, they got a good view of the Kharon, almost completely disassembled. For a moment, they stood slightly stunned watching as arms overhead reached and grasped at different metal panels in the walls of the skiff, pulling them off with practiced efficiency. Small groups of zombies bustled about, carrying clocksteel girders and beams as another set of arms carefully attached the beams to the skeletal structure of the skiff.
The arms suddenly stopped their movements and a light hiss echoed off the far walls. From the control booth, Fara emerged and gave them a radiant smile, “Welcome back! Sorry about the skiff; I thought I could get some of the bottom layer done before tonight, but it just wasn’t meant to be. How’d the task go? Also, when did you get that fancy jewelry?” she asked.
Mori smiled as Furi and Pride put the chest of collected valuables down beside another stack of crates, “We ran into something a bit weird. I thought the gods would’ve let you know about it?” she wondered aloud, grinning at Fara’s worried look, “It wasn’t that bad; we just raided a god’s time capsule.”
Sighing, Fara approached and pointed to a set of boxes roughly arranged in the form of a table and chairs. Mori saw no reason not to take her up on the offer and sat down, leaning forward slightly. Fara followed suit, sitting and propping her arms on her knees and rubbing her temples, “While I have no clue what a ‘time capsule’ is, let me get this straight; you raided something belonging to a god in less than half a day? And you said that the Creators would have told me something? Mori, what happened, for the love of the gods!?” she exclaimed, slamming a hand on the box-table.
Mori grinned, “Well-”
Before she was able to speak a word, Fury stepped in front of Mori, “We were eliminating the wyrms when we found a god’s reliquary. After fighting through it and freeing something, we looted it.”
Fara took a long moment to process Fury’s words before she gave a long sigh, “Alright, a bit brief, but I can work with it. You’re saying that you just happened upon a god’s reliquary, went through it, in an afternoon, might I add, freed something apparently important or dangerous enough to be locked in there, by a god, and just looted it?” she asked incredulously.
Mori smiled again and nodded, “Yep! That’s the long and short of it. I also raised a bunch of wyrms; I had them hide out under the space between the two layers of the walls. There were also these cool artifacts, as they said, and I’ve been wearing them since we found them. I don’t know what they do, but I’ll figure it out eventually.”
Fara gaped for a moment before wearily sighing, “You know what? I don’t think I can muster the energy to be surprised. So, two artifacts and a box full of… what?”
“Three artifacts and a box full of metal, gems, and a few eyes. Actually, what happened to the corpses I had? Did you keep them?” Mori asked suddenly.
Fara eyed her suspiciously before nodding, “There’s always a sub-freezing area in mod docks to store perishables. That also includes corpses, for what it’s worth. That twenty-something pile of corpses were the first things I moved, along with your little mesa-dog project; I didn’t want them to start rotting and stinking up the skiff.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. We both forgot. Anyway, your bodies are still there. So, what did you guys find?” Fara asked.
Standing, Mori opened the chest and pulled out a bar of rosy metal, a bar of dull green metal, a few gems, and the eyepatch out from the box. Almost immediately, the eye locked onto Fara’s eye socket, causing her to flinch back. Mori placed a gentle but firm hand over the eye, blocking its sight once more. Gesturing to the two bars of metal and the gems, she shrugged, “This was it. Two types of metal. We found a few dozen of the red ones and a few more of the green ones. The gems were pretty generic; they were pretty close in size and shape, only differing in color and somewhat in size. There were also the eyes, but I doubt those would be interesting.”
Fara shook her head, moving her hand from the eyepatch. The thing’s obsessive glare was easily ignored by Fara when she was prepared for it and she held it in front of her for a moment, “For some types of mana, eyes are much stronger focal points. So, for something that offers a new perspective to the world, an eye would be the best way to contain the mana and channel it. Of course, that only applies to the mana types that are more esoteric in nature —something like a generic fire mana would work like an earth mana, you get the point. The eyes might have been part of some sort of project of the god’s. What god was it?” Fara asked.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“The Great God of the Resting Laurels,” Mori replied, “He had a thing with weird artwork, fancy interior decor, and odd statues. I also got a staff I put back near the entrance.”
Fara nodded, “Okay, I guess that makes sense for him to have a lot of things to do with eyes if he works with artwork. Now you have to figure out what to do with them.”
“The eyes?” Fara nodded, “I dunno. What am I supposed to do with eyes? I mean, I have a sneaking suspicion that they are too ‘processed’ to turn into undead and I can’t imagine what kind of stuff I could use them for. What about the metal and the gems? Can you make heads or tails of them?”
Fara shrugged, taking the rosy metal in her hand and gripping it. She traced a finger across its surface, looked deep into it, and shrugged, “I don’t really know what metal testing entails, to tell the truth. I do know that it would look great as jewelry. Other than that… I don’t really know.”
Mori nodded, pushing the dull green metal forward, “Alright, that’s fair enough. What about this stuff?” she asked.
Fara repeated the process, her process supplemented by lightly tapping the bar with a hammer, “This one… I think it’s used to make weapons… Though, knowing how you described the god in question, I would think he would want something more shiny to use.”
Mori tilted her head, “How do you know that? Is it the strength?”
Fara wibbled her hand a bit, “Kind of. I honestly am not an expert on metallurgy, but I personally think that this could be a good metal to use for weapons. It’s strong, doesn’t seem capable of rusting, and is much lighter than steel. I don’t know how you judge weight, Mori, but this is much lighter than steel.”
“Huh,” Mori let out, “And the gems don’t have any mana in them. Does the thing with the eyes apply here as well?”
Fara nodded, “Pretty much. The thing about gem-based manas is that they’re all somewhere between esoteric and… well, whatever non-esoteric is.”
“So until I can ‘get’ something like that…”
“They’re pretty useless. Unless you want to make something a lot more susceptible to theft.”
Mori smiled at Fara, “Thanks, Fara. Hey, where’re the other pyraustas? Or Zubov. Or Norta. Or-”
“They went to Bash Lane,” Fara cut off, “They won’t be back for a while.”
“Oh. How long have you been doing that,” she asked, pointing to the skeletal skiff.
Fara shrugged, “A few hours, I think.”
At that moment, Aerolat materialized behind Fara and shook his head, “She has been working on the skiff for the greater part of the afternoon, mistress. In fact, I believe she has forgotten to eat dinner,” he accused.
Fara glared at the blob of blood while Mori shook her head, “Fara, you need to eat. You aren’t an undead. Come on, let’s go get something for you.”
Looking between Mori and Aerolat, Fara sagged in her seat, “Fine… But-”
“Then you’ll be going to bed. It’s a few hours from midnight, Fara. You need to keep your body working if you want to do anything with it.” Mori admonished, “Okay?” Mori thought the face she was giving Fara showed how much she cared for the woman.
Obviously, Fara agreed, as she shied away from her gaze, “Alright, fine. Tomorrow, though, I’m going to be working on this thing for the whole day.”
Mori’s eye-flames rolled, “Fine, you can do that. First though, food. Come on, we’ll find a good food stand or something.”
Fara nodded, “Alright then. Lead the way,” she said, picking up her mask from her pocket. Mori gave the night off for her death knights and led Fara out into the city with a small pouch of chips in her hand.
The city was quiet in the eastern parts. Mori saw very few wandering around during the night and the few that she did see were the people who obviously had a place to be. The quiet, deserted atmosphere Mori expected from such a lack of people was tempered by the sheer majesty of many of the buildings. None were in disrepair and they all looked as if they had been given a new coat of paint the day before. The paved streets under their feet were all unblemished, clean of any sand, and each brick a perfect replica of each other brick. After a few minutes, the noise of distant cheer reached them and the light of the bazaar rose over the buildings.
Mori began to lead Fara towards the bazaar but the woman pulled her arm, “This way, Mori,” she said sardonically. Mori could only grin and let herself be dragged along. After winding through many streets, they came upon the bazaar. It was much different from during the day; people walked in drunken groups, most material stands had been replaced by food and drink stands, and there were a few minor fist fights.
Even in the chaotic revelry, the odd pairing of a masked woman and lich did not go unnoticed. Despite that, most did not gape and stare, “Looks like they know about me,” Mori whispered to Fara.
Fara smiled, “Maybe,” she said, “It’s not like you’re dangerous, nor a common sight. It’s little wonder that people take notice of you.”
Mori shrugged, “Meh, whatever. Anyway, do you see anything you like? I can’t really tell because… well, you know.”
“Really? Can you smell anything?”
“Kinda? It’s like a vague sense that there’s a smell in the air, but I don’t really smell it for real. I mean, I think I can smell better than most, but it’s not like they actually do anything. Like smelling water. I think.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Fara said, “You can’t really smell any of the really good smells out there anymore.”
Mori shrugged again, “It’s not that bad. Do you see anything you like? Or do you smell anything you like?”
Rolling her eyes, Fara elbowed Mori in the ribs, “Very funny.”
“I try to be.”