The next morning Aliya woke up clutching her blankets tightly. She had vivid nightmares of the world being consumed by a great darkness. It was a darkness that spread from the evil pendant that warped everything it touched.

Some unusual men were in the room when she finally got out of bed. They were construction works there to fix last night’s mess. The gnome went to look for her friend to ask for her advice.

Kira was in Astrin’s studying reading some books about different beasts. The one she was reading about was about some dog-like creature that had some special fur that made it harder to see clearly.

“Zere she is,” Astrin’s words made Aliya freeze in her tracks. “Ze little ‘ome wrecker.” The strong woman laughed at her own joke. It was obvious she was using the term in an almost literal sense. Since Aliya didn’t really destroy the barracks but was the reason for its demise.

“I’m sorry Mistress Astrin,” said Aliya while staring at her toes. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Yes, I know child,” smiled the lady of the hunt. “Next time you bring an item zat people are looking to steal, zat you warn me first or sleep at ze Leaky Tap.”

The cleric began twiddling her thumbs, upset that she only caused trouble wherever she went.

Astrin walked out from behind her desk and crouched down to Aliya’s height, “I’m just glad you weren’t ‘urt badly. I did ‘ere you took quite ze punch to ze face.”

“It did hurt but not as bad as some of the things I do for my magic,” claimed the cleric.

“Glad to ‘ere it,” said Astrin. “Just so you know, for ze time being ze Jellybeans will be staying at ze Leaky Tap while ze ‘Unt is under construction.”

“Did anyone offer to help pay for the damages?”

“Yes, Gene did. ‘E is a ‘elpful man.”

Guilt set in, Aliya didn’t like that Gene took care of everyone. It made him seem reckless in her opinion. Not to mention it made her seem like she was in his debt. She wished he prioritized real problems like the pendent or superficial ones like everyone’s happiness.

“Kira, can we talk?” The gnome felt she was free from any interrogation Astrin may have had for her.

“Sure thing.” Closing the book, Kira walked up to a step ladder, ascended it, returned the book, jumped down, took Aliya’s arm, and walked out of the Hunt.

“What’s the matter,” asked Kira. Her braided hair blew in the wind as her sea-blue eyes met Aliya’s.

“I don’t think Gene’s plan is good,” she started. “It puts everyone in danger.”

“Danger? Why do you think that?”

The two walked towards the centre of the city. Fresh warm bread from a stand not far from them released its wonderful aroma into the air.

“If someone bad gets their hands on this pendant, it could be the end of the world as we know it!”

Stopping in front of the bread stall, Kira purchased two loafs of bread and gave one to Aliya for breakfast.

“I don’t think his plan is so bad.” Aliya watched as the halfling chewed on her bread between words. “He is just finding a happy medium between both ideas. Besides,” Kira took another mouthful of bread into her mouth. The gnome was shocked by the amount she could shove it. “You can always ask Fern to give you the pendant once we’re inside the ball.”

The thought hadn’t occurred to Aliya. “You’re right.” Aliya looked at the sky, it was almost time to pray to Baron. The picky god had such precise times he needed to be prayed to though Aliya didn’t mind right now. She had questions for him anyways. “Time to pray, talk to you later.”

She went back to the church of the Righteous One and prepared a big bowl of water and stared at it. This was one of the most basic ways to pray to Baron. The goal was to stare at the surface and visualize fish swimming under it.

The surface of the water was meant to act as a metaphor for the knowledge we already possess. The fish below represented the knowledge that you were seeking. That sometimes you couldn’t catch the fish but you could understand it slightly better by the ripples it made on the water’s surface. The more you studied these ripple movements the more you learned about the fish until one day you’d be able to catch it.

One of the fish that she imagined was the celestial being that she needed to find to destroy the pendant. One of the ripples from the fish was the Isle of Light but this was not the fish she was looking for.

She was looking for the second darkest fish in her imaginary pond, the pendant. The fish had become big in her mind and was swimming closest to the surface, unlike the sea monster that was the disease that killed her family lurking in the depths.

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The big dark fish flicked its tail and caused a ripple, it was Shield. Aliya continued to watch the fish and another ripple appeared. Something about Candice searching for the soul of her love, revenge, and duty. The gnome knew she was right to worry.

The fish swam around and swallowed other fish before it jumped out of the water and attacked Aliya. Her eyes snapped open and a cold sweat broke out over her. Aliya knew she had to destroy the pendant no matter what.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fern and Gene spent their day going over the plan to get all their things inside. The basic idea was that Fern would grab everyone’s things, then transform into an insect, ride on Gene until they were on the castle grounds, and then Fern would get to a hidden away broom closet in the castle to drop their things.

It had taken the men a good chunk of the morning to find a map of the castle but, they got one in some secondary magic shop that also had older maps of Erend and its buildings.

Gene had used a map of the city to find a place that they could practice using appropriate distances. Fern then had to help the monk set up some obstacles that Fern would most likely have to go through which is why the training path cut across a busy street. People stepping on Fern was going to be his biggest challenge. The druid hadn’t had time to study using wings so he couldn’t be a bug that could fly.

After several runs of trial by error, the pair discovered that a grasshopper seemed to be the best bug for the job. Fern did not enjoy the trial run though. He was stepped on so many times which scared many people and he was labeled a pervert, sexual deviant, and other such titles because he was mostly crushed by women and always formed under their foot staring up their skirts.

"So it will take you about 30 minutes or so to get to the door and then you'll have to escape and meet us before we get to the entrance," explained Gene.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard," said Fern. "I'll need someone to come with me to carry some of the stuff before I shift into a grasshopper."

"I'll help you, no need to worry." They went back to the Hunt to prepare for the night.

That night after everyone was in their best, Fern and Gene grabbed everyone's stuff.

"Please give me the pendant," said Gene to Aliya. "I will keep it safe."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

The gnome left the room and returned a while later with a beautiful small black box, only a bit smaller than a cigar box. Her hands quivered as she placed the box in Gene's hands with a few tears falling down her face. In Fern's opinion, it was clearly an overreaction not that he cared. He was only focused on how good he looked, getting his mission done, and enjoying the ball. Though he did plan to bully Aliya a bit by not giving her back the box until the end of the night, for safety reasons he claimed.

Fern went to go look at himself in a mirror while he waited for the untrusting gnome to part ways with the dumb box. He was fond of the outfit he got, a burgundy tail with an elegant white shirt underneath. Instead of the silver fur he usually wore on his shoulders, he picked out a dark green scarf to accent the coat and his hair. Black pants and fancy shoes rounded out his look, he even the antlers out of his hair and tied it in a noble bun. His look just wasn't complete, the tailcoat seemed bare so he used his druid magic to blue a flower in his hand that matched his pale blue eyes with glistening yellow stars.

Gene approached him while carrying some of the weapons of the other members, "Shall we?"

The men walked towards the castle. Gene wore a white ornate pleather coat, open chested with a fancier version of his typical monk pants and dark brown leather boots. The red scarf Fern had bought him was tied to his waist and dangled to the right side. "Aren't you cold," asked Fern.

"No," quickly responded Gene. "I use to live on the highest mountain in Asmir, Mount Azriel, and would be forced to train at night so this is a comfortable temperature."

"Why did you pick that to be your outfit?"

Running a hand through his slightly longer than short light brown hair, Gene stared at the full moon. "It's the style of clothes my father wore. I guess I always thought they looked cool and fashionable. Of course, my father's were black or blood red."

"You never talk about your family."

"And you don't talk about yours either," rebutted Gene. "I assume it's because our family lives are complicated."

Complicated was putting it lightly. The people of Hallow Wind Harbor where Fern was from, thought that he and his family were cursed. They even believed their home to be cursed as well which is why they burned it to the ground.

"Well, we are at your starting point." Not paying attention, Fern only then realized that his friend had been guiding him to the spot he needed to be. The monk handed all the weapons and equipment to Fern, who felt worse than a pack mule carry a ton of things and an overweight passenger.

"Good luck and be safe," smiled Gene. "We'll see you at the front gate."

"Thanks," wheezed Fern. His breathing became strained under all the weight.

After a slight nod, the druid morphed into a grasshopper. Suddenly, he felt weightless again and enjoyed the feeling. He hopped to the castle, through a fence, and landed on someone's shoe. Being lazy, he allowed the man to move for him while he tried to remember the layout of the castle's map. Most of the guests seemed to be moving into a dining hall that was left of the main entrance.

Remembering that the nearest supply closest was under the staircase that went up to the upper floors closest to the ballroom, Fern jumped off the shoe and hopped towards that door. He was careful to not be out in the open as he didn't want a maid or butler to come to crush his bug form and alert the whole castle to himself.

Being quieter than an insect should have to be, Fern finally made his way to the door and squeezed through the opening under the door. Once inside he returned to his normal self and nearly toppled onto the floor from being overburdened. Using the back of the closest and a few sheets he hid everything except for the box and Gene's weapon. The monk never gave him the fancy dagger and Fern wanted to keep the box close to himself.

Even though he didn't like how dire Aliya was treating the situation, the half-elf still had the common sense to take the box with him. He hid the box within the scarf that dangled around his neck and then turned back into a grasshopper. This time he didn't care for his safety and hopped out of the castle as fast as he could.

Ten minutes later the insect-shaped half-elf was at the rendevous location and became his handsome and charming self. All that was left to do was to was wait for everyone else and enjoy the evening.