Kallio sat patiently under the stars within a sizable circle of scorched earth, the long waving grass burned away in a large circle around him as he waited for Zeptik to return. The imp had fulfilled his task and felflame burned above each of the towers as commanded. After the stupidity at Greystone the Warlock had been uncertain that Zeptik would be able to resist the impulse to cause some extra mayhem. However, the plan had begun without any setbacks or delays, and Kallio was quite pleased.

A beautiful crescent moon hung high overhead in the sky and the sounds of panic had slowly faded over the last few hours. The Warlock had sensed a feeble attempt to extinguish one of the towers and chuckled as the offending mana vanished, incinerated in a breath by the defensive measures Zeptik had written into the runic arrays. He smiled and allowed another wave of compressed mana to wash over the city as he channeled energy into the focusing array that spread out below him.

Mirriana’s report had surprised him, as he had not expected a recommendation of mercy from the merciless demon. This Adventurers Guild had once been proper, and only through long centuries had slowly forgotten the way. Kallio had resolved to correct their wrong thinking before he departed. With a mental command the succubus continued with her objective, assuring him that she would complete before dawn while Kallio returned to maintaining the suppression field over Verren.

It required some attention to maintain the lethal ritual without causing any deaths, but Kallio knew from experience that long exposure to such an effect without triggering it was beneficial to break their morale. To reclaim both the Blade and the demon within quickly was the objective, destroying his way into such a large city would take too much time. If left with no other option Kallio would simply trigger the ritual and allow the fallout to distract the Guild as both he and Virax began their assault.

“A mind observes…shadows dance.”, Virax’s burning voice rang out from some distance away as a construct was seized and annihilated in his entropic grip.

The Warlock would have raised an eyebrow if he was capable, instead standing as he spoke aloud, “Virax, we do not kill messengers unless offense is offered by their own tongue and not borne of their master's command.”

Virax rumbled angrily but melted back into the air like mist boiling away in the sun to lurk between planes as he resumed his watch. Kallio swung his burning eyes across the rolling fields that separated him from the city and its walls. He twisted the energy within his eyes and his vision was greatly enhanced, highlighting the hundreds of constructs that now surrounded him. The Warlock observed the mana radiating from them in waves and was pleasantly surprised at the workmanship of the modified technique.

“Show yourself, Shadow Dancer. You cannot hide from my sight. Has your Bandit Lord sent you with my Blade?", Kallio spoke loudly as the Darkstaff drifted into his grip. Virax hovered nearby, invisible and undetectable by all but the Warlock himself as he hid within a fold in reality.

The hundreds of shadows vanished instantly, and an elven woman stood from the grass a few hundred yards distant and began to approach. She was dressed sensibly to Kallio's eye, wearing a leather cuirass, bracers, and shin guards over loose clothing that billowed in the wind. Her steps were stately as she walked, each foot landing both with purpose and without haste. The Warlock approved of the woman's adherence to tradition as she finally paused a score of feet away and blinked slowly in greeting before performing a minor bow, no more than a deep nod of her head.

“I do not sense Barthalas’ Blade within your possession. A pity. I had hoped this farce could be concluded soon, I have other matters to attend to.”

The woman disregarded his words entirely and began to speak, her voice astoundingly young and high in pitch for her appearance, “I am called Saerith. Shadowmaster of Verren. I speak with the voice of the Guild Master in this matter and seek settlement of our debts without bloodshed. The Guild Master offers his most sincere apologies for any offense offered by his predecessors and proposes an alternative to the ransom of Verren.”

"It is bold of your Bandit Lord to propose such a thing. Though your boldness pleases me, I have set the terms. You shall return my Blade by dawn or I shall butcher your forces and reclaim my artifact myself. You shall imprison my servant no longer.”

"Guild Master Hobbs also begs your consideration for those held in contempt by their service to him. There are none among them that could threaten you, and he humbly requests that should it come to destruction, that you spare those members of our Guild who are stationed within Verren City to shield the common folk.”, the elf countered smoothly as he finished speaking.

They stood in silence for a moment as the wind blew through the long grass all about them with a pleasing sound under the moonlight. Kallio sensed Virax hovering within the same space as the woman, ready to emerge into reality at any signal from his Master. Saerith shifted her stance and held her arms behind her back comfortably while she returned his gaze.

Without warning, a sudden strobe of blue light washed away the midnight shadows for a heartbeat, and several men and women bearing the tabard or colors of the Adventurer's Guild appeared in the field behind the elf. A large crystal thudded to the ground as it was cast aside by the group, and the blue light within rapidly faded.

“What a load of shit, look at him he's, like, a thousand years old”, Saerith whirled on the voice with sudden rage in her eyes as they settled on the small group that had teleported in behind her, “I bet he's got some artifact keeping him alive. Gods, you're one ugly mother fucker.”

Kallio turned his gaze on the one who had spoken, a tall man holding an ornate longbow, four arrows held between the fingers of his right hand as he spoke. He willed Virax into motion as the group began to spread out while the elven woman stared death and murder at the man holding the bow as she spoke icily.

“Marl. You will return immediately. You're endangering everyone's lives and you will be punished severely. I swear I'll see your exile for this.”

"Stuff it, whore. I don't take orders from elves”, the man spat on the ground as if the word itself was foul, "and it doesn't matter. Something is loose in the Guild and Hobbs is busy trying to contain it. We lost the entire Portal Corp in less than a candlemark. Nobody can find whatever it is this bastard wants and we're cut off. We're fucked.”

Virax sent a ripple of anticipation, signaling that he had finished his preparations and sufficiently warped the area around him. Kallio continued to face the human archer as he replied, “It is a Blade. Curved, wrought of Hellsteel, graven with fel runes. Attempt no deception that you do not possess it, I have divined its location within your thieves den.”

“Well I sure as shit don't remember stealing from anybody like you. If you left it lying around hundreds of years ago and one of us took it, that's your fault dipshit!”, a woman in heavy armor yelled angrily from behind a large tower shield as she retrieved a mace from her belt and held it ready.

“Virax.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Wha-”

Virax manifested within the same space the woman occupied and she simply ceased to exist, body exploding into a slurry as it failed to withstand the negative matter that comprised the Riftwalker. The demon chose to appear as an amorphous blob supported by vicious insectile legs of swirling matter that extended seemingly at random from the main body to stab into the grass below. Dim lights flickered within the creature's body, a decaying mirrored image of the stars above. Kallio noted that the woman had likely been afraid of spiders as he observed Virax’s chosen form with interest.

“FUCK, SUMMONER! GO GO GO!", Marl roared as the group was splattered with what remained of their comrade. They sprang into action as spells, arrows, and even several spears brilliantly carved with offensive artifices were hurled at him while he stood impassively. The barrage continued for a few seconds before the battle cries shifted slowly from bravery to fear and confusion.

Virax turned slowly on his many legs to face the group as their spells and arrows languidly floated through the air towards the Warlock. The attacks formed a ragged wall in the air a dozen feet away from the group as they rapidly lost momentum, arrows and spears falling to the earth and kicking up debris as if they had landed from a great distance, skipping in place before slowly clattering to a halt. The spells fizzled as they consumed all their energy without reaching a target and vanished into weak flickers.

Almost as one they tried to flee. Two attempted to activate some form of personal recall and were shredded painfully by the warped area around the Riftwalker. The others ran, some almost too quickly to be seen, but none moved despite the ground seemingly passing under their feet. A deep horn-like sound emerged from the depths of Virax’s eyeless body as he watched with satisfaction.

“I will never understand why one would not prepare an attack to be unleashed the moment they resolved from the teleportation.", Kallio remarked from his position within the runic arrays burned into the dirt around him, “You allowed me almost eight seconds to prepare the field of battle. It's amazing you've lived long enough to die so stupidly. Saerith, dispose of these disobedient vermin and I shall forgive this offense. Virax, allow her passage."

"Yes, mighty one.”, Saerith replied in a wooden voice as shadow slowly crawled up her legs to obscure her body, “Marl you fucking idiot.”

"What?! Who’s side are you on Saerith? I knew Hobbs was wrong to trust a fucking elf! Damn you!”, Marl spat back before he skidded to a halt, feet somehow plowing up the dirt underfoot as his bowstring ignited with brilliant silver light.

The man with the longbow had been the one to run the hardest by Kallio’s judgment, but he was also the first to strike back. The man planted his feet while Saerith began to sink into the ground as the shadows obscured everything but her red eyeshine before that too slipped into darkness. Marl’s arm was a blur as he fired arrow after arrow, the shafts held deftly between his fingers until the moment of release. Each arrow split, becoming dozens as his volley hung useless in the air.

“Saerith no!"

“Spare us, I beg you!"

“Marl you fucking bastard!"

Kallio watched with interest as the shadows began to dance; red eyed silhouettes lurking up out of the darkness behind each of the Adventurers. Both Warlock and demon observed impassively as Marl was punished severely indeed.

“Now, I shall hear this proposal."

_____________________________________

It had taken Blackstone most of the day to figure out how to communicate with his ride along as the group jogged through the pines in the frigid mountain air. For once he had been thankful for the forced silence; until they arrived at a suitable location to camp it left him more time to explore his hunch and come to terms with the situation. The answer, as always, had been mana.

The flower would exchange mana and enhance his spells, but it would also exchange mana infused with intent. It was difficult to decipher for both parties at first, but they kept chipping away at it. The back and forth was as easy as thinking after a few hours. Though the alien emotions he sometimes received back were confusing they gradually became clearer.

After a bit of work Blackstone had finally gotten it to understand what he was asking and the flower had obliged, drawing in a small amount of ambient mana as they ran and feeding it throughout Blackstone's body.

Blackstone grinned openly when the soreness faded from his muscles and his energy began to slowly return instead of depleting as the plant unfurled fully and drank in the light. The healing pulses he periodically infused the others with as he ran became trivial to produce, much to Gawin's relief, and their speed increased as a result. As dusk began to fall and they neared their destination Guide held up his hand and slowed to a halt as the pass loomed above the trees ahead of them, the mountains on either side climbing away out of sight.

“Smell that?", Guide asked quietly before he turned to face the others.

Blackstone sniffed the air and his grin grew larger as almost everyone followed suit.

“Water, thank the gods. Is that the first lake? Gods, I could use a swim.", Roland sighed as he leaned into the stuff breeze coming down the mountains ahead of them as the air began to cool as thr sun crept lower in the sky.

Guide joined in the excitement for once as he spoke good naturedly, “You're in luck, magus. This lake is relatively safe, for some reason most of the nastier things avoid this one. We're not sure why. It's not entirely safe but nothing is out this far. Best were gonna get for a long time though. Let's get moving.”

They resumed their run happily this time, the mountains looming higher on either side until suddenly they were in the pass. They trudged up the steep incline at a respectable speed but not even Blackstone's amplified spells could prevent them from breathing heavily by the time the terrain evened out. It was almost a relaxing walk downhill after that, the trees suddenly parting to reveal a view that took Blackstone's breath away and made the entire group murmur despite themselves. Gawin had even retrieved a bit of parchment and began making a simple sketch of the lake while he took slow careful steps until Guide barked at him to hurry himself.

The valley opened up below them, the verdant green of the pines stretching away into the horizon, framing the absolutely massive circular lake. Water stretched more than a mile from the shore and was surrounded by a finely crushed gravel that gave way to a field of boulders and smaller debris. It crowded the exit of the valley, it's crystal clear water reflecting brilliant flashes of evening sun as it rippled in the wind.

“From here to the lake, and most of that gravel pit down there is more or less safe. Keep your eyes open for bears and Automata, no yelling. Speaking voices should be fine. Two in the water at a time, everyone else watches. Boil the water if you're going to drink it, we’ll camp there”, Guide rattled off before he started down the hill with a bit of spring in his step as he pointed to a relatively elevated spot, "Id enjoy it if you can, once we cross it the Automata are everywhere.”

Blackstone barely even noticed the downhill trip to the lake as cool, fresh wind blew off the water to ruffle his hair. The flower bounce happily in tandem with him from behind his ear as it angled itself towards the lake. Even Nari had a gigantic smile on his face as his eyes pinpricked with delight at the thought of a bath after several days in armor, fighting and running through the woods. They began to chatter almost as soon as their boots touched gravel, their conversational tone sounding deafening after their long and forced quiet.

Roland and Gaius immediately proposed a game of Rock-Parchment-Candlestick to determine the bathing order and Guide immediately cleaned house, citing beginners luck as he left them to set up the camp with a cackle as Roland stood watch grumpily.

Nari quickly built a small fire that burned cleanly without much smoke as Gaius carefully cleared and flattened a strip of land for the bedrolls with a few waves of his staff; the piles of stones deposited and compressed to form a semi-circular windbreak for the group. Blackstone gathered the pile of bedrolls and laid them out, laying everyone's packs atop them when he was done. Selda immediately moved her bedroll to within a few feet of Blackstone's with a defiant look back at the man.

“Say anything and I'll belt you.", she growled at Roland who immediately shut his mouth and stopped wiggling his eyebrows at Blackstone, “I'm not joking. Blackstone, wanna hit the lake after Guide gets back?”

“Actually…yeah.”, Blackstone replied as she beamed back at him, all the snarl on her face suddenly gone.

He almost managed not to blush this time.