Rita stared down the woman feeling a mixture of fear and defiance in herself. The woman offered only a simple yet promising smile with ruby red lips. Rita was very careful to make sure there was at least some space between the two of them that if she needed she could fight back.
The woman made some strange gestures with her left hand, the crimson finger nails glinting off of some light from the grate in the ceiling. A series of six red orbs rose above her casting their angry light across the room. The woman however seemed calm enough, but there was a sense to her that Rita couldn’t shake off, a sense of absolute danger.
Rita bawled her hand into a fist. “Who are you?”
The woman was silent for long enough to make Rita wonder if she was even really here. When the woman did speak it threw Rita off. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been asked who I was. Some have called me The Crimson Tide, the Scarlet Seeker, Carmen Savant, but I have always preferred the title of the Red Witch.”
That title sounded almost familiar but it didn’t strike out as something Rita recognized off the bat. “Okay, well I’m busy so I need to head out.”
“You’ll lose.”
A low growl escaped Rita’s throat surprising even herself. “I’ll never lose again.”
“You will. You can’t keep them safe, and defeat your enemies.”
Rita looked around hoping to see a doorway to leave through. This was not the same way she'd gotten in here during her school days. There was nothing up here save for a metal grate above her. “I’ll do both.”
The Red Witch shook her head. “You’ll try, and you’ll lose at both. A sacrifice will always need to be made.”
Assuming the grate was the way into the dark archive Rita was going to need to solder it open. The thing was made from thick iron. “No more sacrifices. I’ll defeat them on my own if I have to.”
“You don’t have the power for that yet.”
Rita jabbed a finger at the woman but she didn’t even flinch. “LISTEN! I will not lose anyone else!”
The Red Witch smiled gently. “Are you that determined to keep your friends safe and defeat your enemies?”
Rita nodded. “Of course I am!”
The Red Witch pulled out a small black and gold coin from under her cloak. Her finger nails were sharp and dark red. “Then I offer you this coin. Should you use it, both of your desires will come true, but should you use it, you will also owe me a favor.”
Rita laughed. “Like I’d take anything from the likes of you. Your probably a demon looking to temp me or some crap like that.”
The Red Witch pulled back her hood just enough to reveal a pair of orange eyes. Her eyes looked empty, beaten, and tired. A few crease's in her face said she was in her late forties possible fifties, assuming she aged like a normal human. “I’m no demon.” The red star on her forehead told Rita that she was dealing an old starling at least. “Take the Wish Coin, use it if you need to, don’t use it if you don’t want to. It’s your choice to save your friends or let them die.”
Something fell against the grate above them forcing Rita to look up. Whatever it was it glimmered in the light from the grate, slipped through without issue. Rita reached out and caught it. In her hand she now held the gold and black coin. Looking up revealed that The Red Witch was nowhere to be seen.
Rita blinked. “Wait, but your down here, how did the coin come from up above...” she looked up at the where the Red Witch had been standing previously only to find empty space, she was all alone down here. Alone with the wish coin glowing warm in her hands. Rita almost cursed as she slid the thing into her jeans pocket. “Whatever, I’ll keep my friends safe and beat up the bad guys and all without ever really risking their lives again. No more loss.”
Now Rita just had to get through the grate as it was the only way to move forward from here. Without any further hesitation Rita leapt up to the grate and grabbed it with her fingers. She swung herself upside down and planted her feet on the ceiling. With her revolver she created another torch and began the slow process of cutting through the iron bars one at a time.
This was far slower going then before. It was going to take some time to burn through all of these bars.
***
The crowd ran away from the scene leaving Wonder with her wand pointing uselessly at the giant orz in the diner. Wonder and Lapis had already downed their aether potions, which tasted a lot like lemonade, and were just waiting for the civilians to get out of the way.
A group of five guardsmen had already come to see what was going on. Three of them were valkyires who had come flying down, the other two were terrans who looked like they had been patrolling locally. They had the restaurant surrounded. Each one of them had a riffle.
The leader seemed to be a young valkyire with short cut bright red hair and a spear on his back. Despite being a guy Wonder couldn't help but think he was kinda cute in an almost feminine way. The young valkyire glanced at his team and grinned like a kid about to get into trouble. "Alright guys, let's make sure this unhappy diner doesn't cause anymore trouble."
The guards around him all answered in unison. “Yes sir, Aaron Sir!”
“Good!” Aaron eyed down his riffle. “Hey, big green and ugly, don't move an inch!” Noct took a step forward and Aaron pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out with a loud explosive sound, and Wonder watched as it hit Noct in the skull. The bullet deflected off his head and into the wall.
For a brief moment everyone stood there completely stunned into silence. This gave Noct just enough time to grab a round table next to him and threw it through the hole he’d made. The table crashed right into Aaron knocking him back a few good feet. Two of the other guards had began to fire but Noct was already charging toward one of the other valkyire. Each bullet seemed to barely bite into his flesh. He pulled back and hit one of the valkyire with enough strength to send the poor man flying past the street and into the window of a building on the other side.
The other three guards were already busy trying to drag the unconscious Aaron out of there. Noct turned his sights towards them.
Lapis cursed. “Not today big boy!”
Wonder watched as Lapis revved the engine once, and saw the look of determination in her eyes. It was a good thing she was already buckled up. The truck sped forward going through the street, bumping up onto the sidewalk, and crashed into a table. Noct had just enough time to look directly at them with a snarl before the truck slammed into him with all the speed that it could muster. Wood splintered around them, the truck stopped to a near dead halt throwing Wonder forwards so hard that everything from her head to her butt was in pain, and sent Noct sprawling over onto his side.
Lapis got out of the truck and flashed her guardian heart mark at the retreating guards. “Don’t worry, I’m one of the Guardian Hearts, we’re here to take care of this guy!” she finished with a wink that was full of a lot more confidence than Wonder felt at the moment.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Wonder got out of the car on shaky legs watching as the guards nodded at Lapis, one of them asking who the crazy girl in the truck was, another answered with the quite correct response, she’s an adventurer. Obtaining the adventurer license at such young ages was no easy feat mind you, and Wonder was very proud of that. Not that a piece of plastic gave her anymore ability to actually fight these bad guys.
With her wand pointed at Noct, Wonder circled around to the front of the car. It was heavily dented and steaming which meant that Rita was going to be furious. Noct sat straight up and glared right at Wonder. Every ounce of strength fled from Wonder’s body as she stared at the giant orz who was already beginning to rise. There was a trail of dark green liquid running down his left leg where the truck had hit him.
A tentacle lashed out like a whip sweeping at Noct’s legs and knocking him once more onto his back. Lapis strode forward left hand on her hip and right arm shrinking back to her side. “Try to get back up, triple dog dare you!”
Noct dug his fingers into the pavement below him cracking them with unimaginable strength. “Dare accepted.”
He wasn’t trying to get back up, yet he seemed no less strong then before. Something about this wasn’t right and it was screaming to Wonder that she needed to do something. Yet what could she honestly hope to do in this situation?
***
The final bar was finally cut through and with it done Rita managed to rip the grate off of the roof and allowed it to clatter to the floor below. She looked up and swallowed hard. She could see the tunnel went up at least fifty feet, maybe more. With a deep breath she began spider climbing up the shaft for what felt like ages. Along the way she would spot nooks and crannies where lesser valuables, or tools were stores. Halfway up she found a pair of climbing hooks stashed into a little hole and Rita groaned, “Now why didn't I think of that myself?” Still she took them, they looked like they might come in handy next time she needed to break into some place.
As she continued climbing she came across a few messages scratched into the walls. All of the messages amounted to someone claiming they had broken into the archive. It was likely that after the fall of the thieves guild they implemented the metal grate below, poorly as Rita was able to get through it so easily.
Once she neared the top there was another grate, luckily this one was merely held together by screws which were no trouble at all in removing. Once she had them gone she pushed the grate up and aside. The area above her was a massive library three stories tall, chandlers with blue glowing crystals, some of the antechambers had iron bars with no visible way of entrance, and Gothic statues of gargoyles and other monstrosities lined the pillars. She was just about to clamber out of the top when her eyes caught the gleam of something red.
This was the first time Rita had come up this way, so she wasn’t expecting much. The gleam gave her reason to pause. It was coming from a gargoyle statue and its red eyes. Rita flicked another switch on her goggles and watched as just inches away from the top of grate appeared red lasers.
“Well those are new,” Rita whispered to herself, “And I get the feeling that I don't want to touch them.”
Rita looked around the room seeing the various lasers lining the floor. The statues all had a red aura around them indicating they were giving off aether auras. The lasers were coming from their eye sockets where the red gems sat.
"Well at least I know that some of these books are dangerous to film so there's no cameras." Despite telling herself this, Rita was still not much more comfortable with the added security.
Rita managed to slip between the lasers over the grate and once on the floor moved carefully over to one of the pillars stepping over and in between the lasers. It took only a little bit of effort and a pair of climbing hooks, but she began climbing up the old stone pillar until she got to the statue. Using one of the hooks to hold onto, she pulled out a dagger with her other hand and began prying the statue’s eyes out taking caution to not cross the beam as she did. Once she had the eye out the laser vanished and the lines connecting to this laser on the floor went with it as well. Including half of the lasers over the grate she had entered from. She took out the other eye and watched as all the lasers over the grate vanished.
Now that she was done with that she used her hover boots to glide back down to the grate and replaced it as quietly as she could. So far, so good.
A familiar woman’s voice played through the room like a musical instrument. “Sneaking in here was easier then sneaking into a lovers bedchambers while their parents sleep in the adjacent room.”
Rita hop scotched across the floor until she found a place behind one of the pillars on an antechamber with a sign labeling it as, 'Castles and History.'
Once hidden Rita stuck her head out to see Nightshade and Mind Sliver standing at the top of the second story. Mind Sliver lifted up his left hand and five dark shadows leapt from it, each one racing towards the different statues. Five at a time the statues had their eyes removed by the humanoid shadows.
Mind Sliver spoke next. “You should take more caution.”
Nightshade laughed richly. “Now if I did that, I’d never get laid… actually that explains a few things about you.”
Mind Sliver hissed. “Is that all you care about?”
Nightshade bit her lower lip. “Well, I could be… persuaded to think of different things.”
Mind Sliver waved his hands and the shadows returned to his fingers. “I am through with this conversation. Let us find the blueprints to Castle Night Thorn and be done with this task. We must find that secret entrance.”
Rita pulled back and felt a shiver run down her spine. The shadows came from Mind Sliver. She knew enough about magic to know two things right away. One starlings were able to usually use only one, and sometimes two forms of magic outside of their cantrips. Two, that they shadow monsters they had fought were being summoned by Mind Sliver. This meant that Mind Sliver had two abilities, teleportation and shadow conjuration. Worse yet he seemed equally good at both of them.
While she heard Nightshade fly off into the air Rita lamented. It had taken too long to get through those bars. Now she was going to have to beat these guys to the punch and she wasn’t sure where she’d find blueprints to a castle… unless they were in the walls next to her. Rita pulled away from the wall and scoured with her naked eyes as swiftly as she could. It was a little hard to read the titles in the blue light but she was able to find Night Thorn Castle swiftly enough. There was only a single book in here on the castle itself, and after grabbing it she opened it only to find that only part of a map still existed in here, and from it she could see a secret entrance in what she believed to now be the infirmary.
Rita growled and slid the book into her pack. At least she had the book even if it didn’t have a secret entrance listed. She was about to step out into the hall and climb back into the grate when up on the third story Rita’s eyes spotted a true prize. A large shining sun stone hung from the roof like a star. Rita wasn’t sure what it was doing up there other than being a little temptress, but she knew what kinds of things she could certainly do with it in her possession. After all, her supplier was out of them.
All she had to do was get it before Nightshade and Mind Sliver discovered she was in the same library as them.
***
Fiona came flying up the staircase and found the wall had closed itself behind her. The sounds of skittering were long gone from behind her but she was still feeling the rush of the adrenaline. Her hands and eyes searched for another secret button on the wall and bumped into one. One of the bricks on the wall slid over with near complete silence.
Inside the infirmary she saw Thaddeus still lying unconscious as she had left him. Following that she also saw both Saturn and Lamont in the infirmary. Lamont was sitting on a bed and holding a bandage over his left arm just under the elbow. The rag was stained with splotches of crimson and black.
Saturn had her arms folded over her chest. “You’re an idiot.”
Lamont grinned. “But a lovable idiot right?”
Saturn rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t have done that for me. I could have taken him.”
The fox pelt around Lamont’s neck inflated itself and hopped off of his shoulders and onto the bed next to him stretching out lazily. The fox moved its mouth and a very attractive womanly voice came from her. “You two squabble like a married couple.”
Saturn raised an eye. “Ew, gross.”
The fox replied. “It’s not so strange for foxes to keep it in the litter you know.”
Lamont raised his uninjured hand with a finger extended. A blue glow surrounded the fox and lifted her up into the air so fast she hit the ceiling and fell back to the bed. He offered a smile to Saturn. “Sorry about Vix. She’s always been… you know.”
Vix bounced back up. “If we familiars weren’t immortal I’d have your head for that!”
Lamont rolled his eyes. “Sure you would.”
Vix turned towards Saturn. “You wouldn’t believe the abuse he puts me through. Did you know he once fed me to a dragon to see if it would do anything.”
Lamont groaned. “You forget about the part where I gave you a grenade first. You know. To kill the dragon.’
Saturn crossed her arms over her chest and growled. “You two need to stop. Lamont you're in serious trouble after dealing with him. First your leg, now your arm. If we don’t solve this soon then you're going to-“
Lamont put his bloodied hand on her shoulder staining the white shirt. “I know. But Rita’s on it. Those girls will solve this. I promise. I won’t die or… worse.”
Saturn picked up a thick book, a copy of Dawn's Light Scriptures. “That’s good, because I don’t know what would happen if we lost you.” She looked dead center at the wall next to Fiona and threw the book as hard as she could. It hit the wall with a loud smack and the secret door slid to the side exposing Fiona.
Saturn stood there with her eyes burning into Fiona’s. “So what were you doing in there?”
Fiona tried to smile and felt her insides drop. She pointed at the sticky note stuck to the wall and said, “I-I left a n-note.”