The pawn shop was even dingier on the inside than it was on the outside. There was no order to the assortment of goods that covered the floor and walls. Swords were left next to phones, clothes were hung beside a gun rack, and gardening equipment was stacked on top of furniture. One of the windows had been smashed and boarded up. Rain slipped through it.

It wasn’t the sort of establishment that Luci would have visited a few months ago. Now, however, Luci didn’t think she had the right to complain.

Breathing heavy from her run, she stumbled up to the counter on shaky legs. Water dripped off her and onto mouldy carpet. Her muddy footprints blended with years of grime. A greying man sat behind the counter. He acted as though he was ignoring Luci, but she could see that he’d been shooting suspicious glances at her ever since she had walked in.

Was the shopkeeper judging her? Was he thinking of a way to shoo her off like every other shopkeeper who witnessed her filthy appearance? Had he recognised her? Were her pursuers going to follow her in? Would the shopkeeper sell her out to them? Was he working with—

“Can I help you?” the shopkeeper said.

Luci realised with a start that she’d been standing at the counter for a few seconds, trying to see through a filthy window for any sign of her pursuers. The shopkeeper was eyeing her up and down as though he was deciding whether to incinerate or trash a piece of used furniture. Mechanically, Luci placed Lunacogita on the counter.

“Sorry, um, how much for this?” Luci rasped, her voice hoarse from cold and fatigue.

The older man crinkled his nose. “You have to remove the covers.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Luci stripped away the drenched layers of covering on the staff. Ethereal light painted the shopkeeper’s face. His eyes widened for a brief second before thinning into a frown.

“It’s an old model,” the shopkeeper said. “What sort?”

“It’s, um, an amplifier,” Luci said. The boarded up window thumped against the wind and she eyed it suspiciously.

The shopkeeper cocked an eyebrow. “This much oxium for an amplifier?”

Luci’s eyes snapped back to her staff. “Well, yes. It allows the amplifier to be used with less resistance. If you compared it to a standard amplifier, you’d immediately notice the difference.”

The shopkeeper clicked his tongue. “Seems like a waste of money. No other properties?”

“Ah, well…” Luci’s hand hadn’t left the staff. Her thumb brushed its length. The smooth metal felt so familiar in her hand, yet so cold. “It’s an incanter. There are eight spells but my mother hasn’t—I mean, I only know two of them.”

The shopkeeper made some of the most unimpressed faces that Luci had ever seen. Her mother had made that face when she didn’t show results in her academics and enma training. Her instructor made that face when she spent hours failing to put together a simple meld. It made Luci feel small and pathetic.

“Eight cores that you can progressively bind with as your levels go up,” the shopkeeper said. “A heap of oxium, too—that stuff can’t be recycled so it’s basically wasted on the afto. All that for an amplifier. If this were a gun, I’d do you a good deal, but an amplifier?”

The shopkeeper drummed his gnarled fingers on the countertop. With his lips pursed, he gave Luci another judgemental look over. She swallowed saliva.

“See, this is the problem with antiques,” the shopkeeper sighed. “They’re all about raw power. These days, dungeoneers use a few aftos that serve multiple purposes rather than one big one like this. On top of that, since it is old, the circuits won’t be as efficient as newer models, especially compared to the stuff produced by Aspar. Worse, some antiques will cut corners to get more power, so they’re just less safe on the whole. With something like this, you probably won’t get a good deal anywhere you go.”

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“Oh, I see,” Luci said.

Her cheeks were burning up. Everything she’d been taught, everything she believed, was being picked apart piece by piece. Her instructor had explained that enma was as wide as the sky, that you could do anything with it. Having a good base of enma paired with a good amplifier could do far more than a flaming sword or a stealth device. You could achieve all those results with enma and more if you were willing to put in the years needed to train.

Well, she’d put the years in and got nothing for it. Maybe this man was right. Her way—her mother’s way of doing things was outdated. It was time for Luci to move on.

I just make it do what I want.

Wip’s words echoed in her mind. He was strong. Ridiculously strong. He didn’t use any complex melds. He didn’t bind with aftos, even. He broke all the rules. He followed his own path, and it worked! But Luci didn’t know what the right path was for her.

“I’ll tell you what,” the shopkeeper said, jolting Luci out of her thoughts. “Let me take it to the back and inspect it. One of my tools might find something worthwhile. I should be able to figure out what some of those incantations do. If they’re good, I can probably take it off your hands for a couple thousand kin. You can buy a QuickHeal with that money and be useful to your party.”

“I…” Luci tried.

“How about I throw in a second-hand QuickHeal, then? That’ll get you on your way to a support role for an E-rank team. Sound good?”

“I’d prefer crystal,” Luci said.

The shopkeeper nodded then grabbed the staff. However, he couldn’t get far as Luci’s grip had tightened. She just couldn’t bring herself to let go of it. All of this was so confusing to her. If she sold it now, if she gave up her old life, all her problems could finally be left behind. She could start a new life, her own life. She wanted that, right? And yet…

The shopkeeper’s upper lip twitched. He let go of the staff. “How about I bring the equipment out?”

Luci didn’t answer. She didn’t even look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the boarded up window, but her thoughts were elsewhere. The shopkeeper took that as a sign to the affirmative. He took his phone out of his pocket and held it towards Luci. She blinked at the phone, not sure what to do. Or more like, not sure she wanted to go through with this.

His mouth twitching, the shopkeeper said, “I need you contact details. Can’t trade aftos without going through all the proper procedures.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

The pressure got to Luci and she did as she was asked. She took her phone out and unlocked it. Her digital ticket was still on her display, the one she’d shown to the guards as she exited the Ravelin.

Luci Black

Level 28

E-class General Support

Items on entry:

> Staff, Amplifier, Level 24

> 0 kin

Change on exit:

> None

Zero kin. A complete failure. Such a powerful afto was in her possession yet she couldn’t make anything of it. She only hurt people with it. She hated it.

Luci’s eyes shifted up to the corner of her screen. The battery rested at a healthy ninety-nine percent. She could have maintained that charge for a month, so long as she only used the phone for necessary things.

Stella had charged her phone to full, rather than just giving her phone enough battery life to be functional. She and Wip had been so unnecessarily kind to a terrible person like Luci, and that hurt her the most. She wished her legs weren’t so shaky, or she would have fled all the way to the next dungeon city in shame.

“Hey.”

Luci gasped and pressed her phone to the shopkeeper’s. After a few seconds, it buzzed. Her contact details were in his possession.

The shopkeeper’s eyes brightened a little. “Stay right there,” he said.

Before shuffling to the back of the shop, the shopkeeper’s mouth twitched up into a grin. He left Luci glued to the counter.

A minute passed. Luci’s stomach turned. She kept her eyes on the window, but it was so cloudy, both from filth and condensation, that nobody could see out or on. Even so, she slid to the side so that a shelf sat between her and the door.

Two minutes passed. A quiet conversation could barely be heard from the back, though there only seemed to be one person speaking, as though the shopkeeper was talking on the phone. Nervous, Luci tried to listen in but couldn’t make out anything.

Three minutes passed. Rain battered against the boarded-up window. The moon had reached its zenith—it would begin to set soon. Even behind rainclouds, she always knew it was there. And even if she didn’t her staff would always remind her, because it glowed strongest in the moonlight. All it took was one little crack in the window and it would shine like a SIN tower.

Her staff. Her staff. Her responsibility.

She snatched Lunacogita off the counter and clutched it tightly. “What in Gul am I doing?” she gasped.

Luci heard movement in the back of the shop. Holding her breath, she wrapped up her staff. She didn’t want to be seen, so why had she decided to sell the staff? It was a dead giveaway! Had the shopkeeper realised what it was? She didn’t have time to think about it. She darted for the door.