Night falls quickly on the longest day of my life. Not that I’ll be making it any shorter by sleeping…
The exhaustion is there, but not overwhelming in any regard, instead taking a backseat to virtually everything else. The entrance to The Barrows holds a veritable crowd of defenders, as, for once, we have far more people than we need to hold the line.
A silent, dark shape picks its way slowly towards us, causing many along the line to stiffen and hold their weapons ready.
A growl, then: “Stand down, humans, lest you anger me further.”
The humans do not, however, stand down. Many of them are the new recruits, and don’t fully trust in the established truce. “Move aside the barricades and let him through, don’t just stand there.” Though they hear my words, and look to me, it takes several moments before they start to move.
“Amadeus’ orders will be respected as my own, you all know this.” Lynn’s voice cuts through the strained silence, and their pace picks up noticeably. The way is cleared before Cerberus’ plodding gait brings him to the entrance, sparing us from further hostility… for the moment.
“Welcome back, Cerberus. Please, follow me.”
He wordlessly complies, but anyone who so much as looks at him receives an openly hostile glare for their trouble. None trouble us on the way to Zathis, and I fix the light bottle, which seems to have been hurriedly put back. Mmm. At least they had that much decency.
Though we’re alone in the hallway, we don’t speak. An uncomfortable silence hangs between us, and little more. I won’t ask him to apologize, and he won’t do it, so we’ll keep it all business for now.
“Zathis, would you kindly open the way for us?”
“Gladly.” His response is accompanied by the grating sound of stone moving on stone from somewhere behind his resting place.
“Cerb- hey, don’t bother him, he’s training.” Cerberus looks towards me from his position next to Chris. For whatever reason, he’d just been staring the man down, making him more than a little uncomfortable. “You have taken prey into your fold, human. Why does the prey struggle at nothing?”
“As I said, dog, he’s training.”
“What could this fool be training to do, struggling against an obstacle well beyond him?” His words drip with disdain.
“To do the impossible. He’ll do it, too.”
A barking laugh punctuates my statement, but not in a positive way. “Fools, all of you. Am I to entrust you and yours with my future? That of my people?”
Without a word, I walk past Cerberus and his continued, grotesque laughter, and place my hand on the boulder. It’s scratched, scarred with blood, and warm to the touch from the hours of struggle Chris has put into moving it. Lighting a roaring fire in my soul, I push, and the rock moves. Without missing a beat, I roll it to halfway before stopping and staring at Cerberus. His expression isn’t the desired shock, but a certain fury that comes with embarrassment, or rejected shame. I shove the rock, hearing a satisfying crash as it collides with the wall behind it, and a thunderous cacophony as it hits the stone floor. I step down off the ramp, dousing the fire as quickly as I can. My Energy bar blinks at me… 3/56.
“Zathis.” I say, quietly. “Please replace the boulder. My apologies for the floor.”
“Most impressive, Amadeus. I applaud your ability.”
“Don’t support him, forgotten, half dead filth! He, and all his kind are doomed, just as I am; just as you are! Never forget the shackles you wear.”
“... Perhaps we are shackled. I feel the weight, yes, but less now than ever before. Perhaps you-”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Silence, fool. I care nothing for your musings. The way is open? Is this how we shall train together? Very well. Attempt to keep up, human.”
Zathis face remains stoic while Cerberus plods away, but that stoicism is an expression I’ve never seen on him. It… doesn’t look good.
“Allow me to apologize for him, Zathis. He’s had a rough day.”
“It is of little consequence, young one. My thanks for the sentiment. Please, do not let me keep you.”
I nod to him, and head for the back of the room when I feel a tap on my shoulder.
“You’re taking me too.”
“Oh? Right here and now? Well if you’re being so forward…”
Lauren smacks me lightly on the back of the head. “Fine, I earned that one. Let’s go, he’ll probably get himself killed on traps if we don’t keep up with him.”
“Fine. I hope it won’t be crowded down there…”
We approach the newly exposed staircase, where there was previously only unmarred stone flooring, that descend into a deep darkness. The steps have a thick layer of dust covering them, perfect but for the newly acquired paw prints. Sounds of combat suddenly erupt from inside, and we dash forward, kicking up the long settled dust in our wake.
----
Exhaustion. That’s all Lynn felt. She had been terrified of taking up the mantle of leadership up until she had finally decided to commit, and all the pieces had fit into place… only to trade terror for exhaustion. She had received a skill. A new one, this time. She didn’t quite know why it had changed from the usual, but the rarity of the skill had increased as well. Voice of Truth, was what it was called, and it forced others to acknowledge when she spoke truthfully. She could convince a blind man that there was a cloud in the sky, so long as she knew there was one, but otherwise, she would likely be ignored. The man would have to believe that she believed what she was saying… and therein lay her salvation.
She could not abuse this power. It, by its nature, forced her to be upstanding and transparent in order to use the skill effectively and get people to trust in her leadership, and that was perfect. She couldn’t end up like Nate because she simply didn’t have that kind of power. And that… made her smile.
Her timing could not have been better, arriving just in time to turn a large potential enemy into half an ally, half an enemy. Not bad for a first attempt.
However, her skill could only help so much. Dylan had made the largest impact, working as a liaison between her and the rest of the new recruits. Dylan was quite accomplished when it came to leatherworking, and his ability to provide defensive tools for his allies had made him quite popular within Gershwin’s group. That was a large part of why so many had stayed when Gershwin stormed off: Dylan. He had worked with her to smooth out as many issues and gaps as possible with a single minded efficiency only a strong worker would have.
He had returned not too long ago, after being tasked with exploring the village and getting people settled, with some interesting information. The Town Hall was not just a useless meeting place, but a structure of significant importance for upgrading the town. She had immediately delegated the remaining tasks on her plate to the appropriate team leaders before setting off to investigate it personally. The entrance to the building was a tall, but fairly thin affair, with what looked to be waiting benches running along either side of the entrance hallway. The hall opened up into a room containing two spiral staircases leading up to a raised section that looked as though it were designed for addressing large groups of people. Directly below this raised section sat an odd looking receptionist’s desk, which was presently staffed by a horrifying monster of shadow.
Throwing the idea that Dylan had sent her in here to be attacked, she approached the strangely smiling creature. “What are you?” She asked, clearly and concisely.
“I am the Town Curator. I will assist you with any needs you have regarding adding features to your village. Would you like to see the selection?”
“Yes.”
[Town Level: 1
Days Extant: 0
Power: 0
------------
Building Upgrades (5000 each):
Artisan’s Center
Merchant’s Center
Warehouse
Town Hall
------------
Town Upgrade (10,000) (Complete all building upgrades to access!):
Focus Production
Focus Mind
Focus Growth
Focus Heart
Focus Soul
------------
Land Upgrade (500)]
“That is all, thank you.” She had already memorized everything on the menu and was busy puzzling through priorities. There was little in the way of description, meaning any decisions were likely to have elements of unpredictability, with effects varying from far reaching and meaningful to completely inconsequential. It was like that the order in which buildings were bought would have little impact, but the town upgrade would likely be irreversible and meaningful.
Fortunately, such things could be considered later. She would have to set up a form of taxation, here, in which people self reported how much Power they accrued and donated some portion to the town to improve it for everyone. Artisans would likely need to be spared from this, considering they were rarely warriors and barely had enough Power to spend on their incredibly useful skills, but warriors were unlikely to be able to use all that they had anyway. She believed the town would become more like the kind of thing they would have found before the system, back on their home planet, and she wished her skill would let her make use of that belief to convince everyone else… but she knew she didn’t know it for sure, and that was enough to stop the skill. Being a leader would take some getting used to. She just hoped she would continue to enjoy it as much as she was now.