Thalassia, a woman who wore fear like a tailored suit, was pouring over scrolls in her dimly lit study in the city of Heliopharos. Secretly, she despised being in this place and simply wished she could return to her homeland, but…duty demanded she be an active participant in the Sunless One’s grand designs. So, rather than enjoying the feel of the ocean and the gentle Tellusian breeze—perhaps with a particularly delightful drink in one hand and a fetching young woman in her lap—she was here, growing increasingly blind as she squinted at paperwork in the darkness.

Despite her intimidating reputation, she knew she was pretty low on the authority chain. As such, her duties were largely unimportant in the overall scheme of the Order’s plans. She had been looking forward to finishing up early and retiring to a quiet evening, sipping her mug of spiced tea and catching up on the chariot races. As fate would have it, though, the universe had other plans.

With all the grace of a stampeding hippopotamus, her most frustratingly dense subordinate burst through the door. Thalassia winced as the door slammed against the wall, causing her favorite decorative urn to wobble perilously.

"Thassy!" Sabra exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement. "You won't believe what I found!"

Thalassia sighed, her eyes narrowing.

"Sabra, what did I say about knocking?"

Sabra blinked, looking puzzled for a moment.

"I... I can't remember," she admitted sheepishly.

Thalassia rolled her eyes.

"No matter. Please do not refer to me by that nickname. I am your superior, not your stick-and-ball chum. Now, what's the progress on that little task I assigned you?"

She couldn't help but think that the task—finding a low-level dungeon—was just busy work to get Sabra out of her hair for a while. The order had come from Agrut Harak—her own superior—to locate an under-tier level dungeon for the purposes of…some wild machination of the Sunless One, so she’d given it to Sabra. Thalassia had never actually expected her to find anything.

"I found it!" Sabra beamed, seemingly oblivious to Thalassia's surprise. "I found a low-level dungeon, just like you asked!"

For a moment, Thalassia stared at her, dumbfounded.

“You did?” However, she quickly caught herself, not wanting the bright-eyed dullard to realize that the task was meant to be a wild goose chase. She straightened up, feigning satisfaction.

"Well," Thalassia said, her voice dripping with false praise, "it's about time, isn't it? I was starting to think you'd get lost in the desert and never come back."

Sabra, ever eager to please, simply nodded, missing the sarcasm entirely.

"I know, right? But I found it! And it was just like you said it would be!"

Thalassia tried to hide her disbelief, wondering how on earth she was going to handle this unexpected turn of events, raising an eyebrow.

"Well then, did you manage to place the Ka instrument near the dungeon, as instructed?"

Sabra's face fell, her cheeks turning a shade of pink that clashed horribly with her burnished skin.

"Well, you see, that’s the thing. I almost did, but... it got damaged."

Thalassia's eyes narrowed, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Damaged? How in the name of the Sunless One did you manage to damage a Ka instrument? They're nearly indestructible!"

Sabra fidgeted, her eyes darting around the room as if searching for an escape route.

"Um, well, you see, there was this cat..."

"A cat?" Thalassia repeated incredulously, struggling to keep her voice level.

“Yeah!” Sabra exclaimed. “I’d asked around and discovered a place called ‘Mumfries Quest,’ which is apparently right near a low-level dungeon. So I got Astarte to send me as close she she could, and—”

“Hold,” Thalassia commanded.

Sabra paused mid-sentence, awaiting for the other woman to continue.

“You contracted Astarte—whose job is specifically to only use her abilities to transport Jewel-rank or higher Order members to pre-organized locations on official-only missions to send you to this…Mum…Mumford…”

“Mumfries Test,” Sabra added helpfully.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“...to there,” Thalassia continued. “For an errand I set you on?”

“Yeah,” Sabra said with full earnest conviction. “But, not to the actual place, just as close as she could, as I said. It’s way out on the edge of the desert, which would take me weeks to walk.”

Thalassia frowned. This was creating more problems than it was solving.

“And how did you convince Astarte to go against her sworn oath?”

“Oh, she owed me.”

“Owed you?”

“Yeah,” Sabra clarified. “I paid for her drinks because she forgot her coin purse when we all went out drinking during the Low Light Celebration last week.”

Thalassia felt a vein threatening to burst in her head. Not only because of the clear insubordination, but also because she’d not been invited to any after-work drinks.

“...and the cat,” she managed.

“Oh yeah, demolished the thing.”

"You're telling me that a simple house cat managed to damage a Ka instrument? Are you certain you didn't just trip and fall on it?"

"No, no, I swear!" Sabra insisted, growing more flustered by the second. "It was the strangest thing. This cat just appeared out of nowhere, and before I knew it, the Ka instrument was in pieces!"

Thalassia stared at Sabra, utterly baffled by the ridiculousness of the situation. She couldn't help but wonder if this was some complete misunderstanding.

"So let me get this straight. You found a low-level dungeon, which I didn't think was possible, and then you almost placed the Ka instrument, but a mysterious cat destroyed it? Are you quite certain you didn't just make all of this up? Or perhaps you’ve been spending too much time sampling Akun Kem’s exotic herbs?"

Sabra shook her head vigorously, her bright eyes wide with sincerity.

"No, I promise! It all happened just like I said!"

Thalassia sighed, rubbing her temples. She was beginning to feel a headache coming on.

"Alright then, what exactly needs to be replaced?"

Sabra thought for a moment, then replied, "Uh, the crystal thingy?"

"The crystal thingy?" Thalassia echoed, her patience wearing thin. "Sabra, I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you please be more specific?"

Sabra scratched her head, trying to come up with a better explanation.

"You know, the shiny gem filled with, like, Ka or something? It's in the middle of the instrument and makes it all work, I think."

Thalassia's eyes widened in disbelief as Sabra's words sunk in. She clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white as she fought to contain her rage. When she finally spoke, her voice was a furious hiss.

"The 'crystal thingy' you're referring to is a Radiant Shard, you imbecile! Do you have any idea how expensive and rare those are? They can only be fixed by an expert Diademsmith from the Serpentlands!"

Sabra nodded.

“Yeah, it definitely looked pricey.”

Thalassia took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Sabra's incompetence was infuriating, but losing her temper wouldn't help matters. She needed to figure out a way to fix this mess, and quickly.

Thalassia glared at her subordinate, her voice dripping with disdain.

"And how, pray tell, did a cat manage to damage such a powerful artifact, without destroying itself and you in the process?"

"I dunno," Sabra mumbled, avoiding Thalassia's gaze. "It just sorta...slapped it outta there."

Thalassia's eyes narrowed.

"And where is the Radiant Shard now?"

Sabra's cheeks flushed, and she shuffled her feet.

"Well, uh, I don't have it."

"Of course you don't," Thalassia snapped. "And why not?"

Sabra hesitated, then admitted, "It looked dangerous with all the energy leaking out, so I left it."

Thalassia's anger reached a boiling point.

"Where, Sabra? Where did you leave this priceless artifact?"

"Out there," Sabra said weakly, gesturing vaguely. "In the desert."

Thalassia's fury erupted. Violet, glimmering energy gathered around her, a storm of Ka swirling dangerously.

"I should just vaporize you on the spot, you little worm! Consequences from the Sunless One be damned!"

Sabra attempted to nervously dissuade her.

“It’s fine! We can just get another one, Thassy.”

Thalassia truly lost it.

“We don’t have another one, Sabra—you absolute dunderhead! They are exceedingly rare and powerful and you left it in the desert.”

“By Ra,” Sabra breathed, quirking a brow at her superior. “Relax, it can’t be that bad.”

That was it. Thalassia focused her Ka into a devastating attack, intending not to kill—though she may have wanted to—but to seriously punish Sabra. Her outstretched hand crackled with power. She began releasing the energy and—

And then, suddenly, an immense, deadly Ka filled the room. Thalassia felt a tight, painful grip on her forearm, stopping her in her tracks.

Thalassia's eyes widened as she looked at the figure holding her at bay. A dark-haired, gray-skinned, red-eyed woman stared back at her, contemptuous boredom etched into her features. Dark, powerful energy swirled lazily around this figure, as if the effort to summon it was irrelevant. Truly, this was some monster that had decided to appear and wreak havoc on the whole city.

But, as the shock wore off, Thalassia realized that, despite the different coloring and attitude, this woman was…Sabra. Or rather, had been Sabra. She gasped.

"You're an Akhiri?!" Thalassia exclaimed.

The Akhiri chuckled dangerously.

"Indeed, I am the manifestation of a bloodline power. Somewhere down the line, one of Sabra's ancestors must have had Akhiri blood, and I am the result."

Thalassia frowned, confused as to why she hadn't been informed of Sabra's power. The Akhiri seemed to read her thoughts and responded disdainfully,

"It is not the prerogative of the lower-ranked to be privy to such information."

Fear crept into Thalassia's heart as the Akhiri maintained her vice-like grip. She stammered an apology, her previous bravado replaced by a pitiable demeanor.

"I... I'm sorry," Thalassia managed to say, her voice shaky. “What do you want…?”

"You will not attempt such an attack again," the Akhiri warned, her voice cold and menacing. "Sabra may be a handful at times, but she is not to be harmed. She is a delicate flower that requires protection."

Thalassia nodded vigorously, her eyes wide with fear. The Akhiri narrowed her eyes, her gaze piercing Thalassia's very soul.

"You will keep this a secret, human," the Akhiri continued, her tone commanding. "No one must know about Sabra's true nature. Swear it."

"I... I swear," Thalassia whispered, her voice barely audible.

“There are larger things at work than your petty…scuffles with novices. Sabra has been entrusted in this order, and your fearsome…Sunless One is aware of my existence. An accord has been set, and plans in motion. You would do well to remember this.”

Thalassia nodded frantically, desperate to agree to anything this creature demanded so that she could get far away from it.

“There is more to this task than just a dalliance in the desert,” the Akhiri said, her voice dripping with confidence and venom. “But it is a task that needs be completed. By Sabra.”

The other woman kept nodding.

The Akhiri continued, “I request that you calm yourself. When you speak to Sabra next, you will be polite and ask her to reveal the exact location of the Radiant Shard so that someone may retrieve it. You will spend the coin you need to repair or replace it—if that is the case—and you will commit Sabra to the task once more. Is that understood?"

“Yes…” Thalassia hissed.

With that, the Akhiri seemed to fade, and Sabra reappeared, her ocean foam-colored hair and tanned complexion replacing the dark and gray. The woman blinked, looking around in confusion.

"Oh," she sighed, rubbing her head. "Dammit, did I black out again?"