There was no fight left in Daniel after he’d failed to find Hunter’s body, only a deep depression. He didn’t resist as he was marched into one of the Spires, not paying attention to which one. After the first two landings background noise picked up and he was reminded of Hagain Village after returning from Roost’s Peak, when the already compressed population had to make do with what little remained. It’d been Ashier all along, for it was too much of a coincidence to find them with the Tyrant class. Heldren must have been the scapegoat while the real manipulator angled to bring themselves into power.
How and why Rorshawd was here he couldn’t understand. Daniel had hoped the dragon had died after what Murdon had done to him. It was fitting, almost, that two villains from the Thormundz had come to haunt him after he’d lost so much.
The two leading him opened a door close to the landing five stories down from the Eye and shouted at those inside to leave. The space looked about as large as a medium supply closet, enough space to walk around in but not enough for the family who’d been inhabiting it to truly live. Guessing that he’d make things worse for them by protesting, Daniel just stood there in his ridiculous robes and waited. There was an argument, though thankfully the space was vacated before the guards turned to violence.
Daniel was walking through the door when he had a thought. “There was someone in the guard I met during the siege, Doran. Is he still alive?” The avianoid in the pair just nodded but the look in her eyes didn’t suggest she wanted to say more. The two hadn’t been exactly hostile to him, but it was clear having to escort him had made their lives harder. Wanting some privacy to figure things out and maybe scream some, Daniel didn’t press and just closed the door.
The very first thing he did was turn out his bag of holding, spilling all the contents into the room. The collection almost covered the entire floor since Daniel carried anything of value in it. While the absence of Hunter’s body was undeniable, it wasn’t the only thing missing. His lightning wings were gone. All of the enchanted items he’d worn when the strange mana source inside of him was unleashed had been evaporated. His bag of holding had fallen off before completely destabilizing, and his wings had been within that at the time though.
Daniel couldn’t explain their absence, but neither was that what he wished returned to him now. For what it was worth he still had the broken remnants of Hunter’s armor, the greater skink leather, sections of bone taken from shank stompers, and a miscellaneous pile of other preserved monster parts that he’d been close to throwing out before everything had gone so wrong.
Curiously, there were also new items in the bag. One drew his immediate attention. Daniel reached first for his Artificer’s Focus but abandoned it when he saw the necklace his father had given him. The one that had burned away into motes of dust. Daniel undid the clasp and looked over every inch of it. It was the exact same, and he could feel that his Totem Warrior powers had returned along with those from his Artificer class.
While he was satisfied the necklace hadn’t changed in any way, the phone definitely had. Its primary color was now blue, with a pattern of white shapes looking faintly like stars, gold filling the center to copy the trio of colors that matched Hunter’s fur and the feathers he could summon. Upon unlocking it he saw that the background image was different as well. It now showed Daniel’s family in different positions, and what’s more, everyone but his father looked as they did today. Most shocking was that Hunter stood beside him in the image.
A dozen separate thoughts ran through Daniel’s mind as the twisting pressure from right after he awoke returned. Attempting to take control of himself, Daniel slowed his mind and looked to one of the corners of the room. “Ok, we’re going to have a talk, right now.” He sat on the makeshift bed, closing his eyes as he manipulated the mana within him. The circle of mana surrounding his heart was still there, making him question if his most recent memories were real since that had also been broken. The process of reaching Bridge Space took less than a minute, although this time Daniel’s consciousness didn’t leave his body. He still wasted the mana, leaving no doubt that the attempt had been made.
Daniel opened his eyes and glared at his phone. “What’s going on?” No response. He unlocked it again to investigate his character sheet, briefly noting that the flashlight app had been replaced by one that had been unidentified. Time for that later.
----------------------------------------
Artificer – Level: 2
You are an artificer, a Class that embodies the Ideals of innovation and creativity. Your primary Attributes are Endurance and Intelligence. Upon taking this class your current Dexterity is halved. Your artificer Focus will take the form of a magical tool.
Attributes:
• Strength: 21
• Dexterity: 22
• Endurance: 24
• Wisdom: 22
• Intelligence: 24
• Charisma: 20
Artificer Features:
• Ammunition Surplus
• Arcane Creator
• Bartering
• Beast Friend
• Craftsman’s Repose
• [???]
• Focus Enhancement
• Fortitude
• Mantle of Creativity
• Identify Creature
• Quick Mind
• Silent Movement
• Steadfast Salesman
Artificer Abilities:
• Analyze Material
• Construct Projectile
• Construct Shield
• Dodge Roll
• Invest Affix
• Hover Object
• Mark Weakness
• Moment of Clarity
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
• Personal Mark
• Reassure
• Scatter Shot
• Snap Shot
• Telekinetic Reach
• [???]
----------------------------------------
The character sheet settled it. Daniel had lost time and had been active during it. So long as the Tyrant hadn’t lied about how long Rasalia had been dead, it would have only been a week. In that time he’d advanced his endurance and wisdom twice which probably corresponded to the unidentified powers. Hope suddenly bloomed as he wondered if Hunter had already been revived. Daniel had no way to see his bonds in his Encyclopedia and wouldn’t know if Hunter’s had come back or not.
That thin delusion lasted until Daniel closed his eyes again and turned inwards. He keenly remembered the loss of the bond and that piece of him was still missing. It was one ingredient to the roiling of his soul, though he didn’t know the full recipe. That didn’t matter. Hunter. I’m not giving up. The thought of that gave him strength.
Daniel stood and looked to the window in the room, coming to a decision. Ashier wasn’t the first power hungry maniac to lock him in a room with a clear exit. Perhaps the Tyrant hadn’t learned the full details of his powers, though he wasn’t sure if he could still bypass the Shroud. He wouldn’t take that exit, not now at least. Daniel wasn’t confident in his ability to escape the city and unwilling to do so without his friends. Leaving this room now would make finding them harder.
Instead, he rapidly toggled a mark on himself, making use of the benefit his bond with Khare gave him. He did this for a full minute and was disappointed when he didn’t see a flash back to him. The marks didn’t draw the eye or stand out, and if they were too far away from each other it could be like solving an extreme hidden objects puzzle to pick it out. Daniel just left the mark on and hoped the gestalt would find it eventually, or turn their own on if they heard he’d returned.
With that settled, Daniel examined the new items he’d found in the bag. Aside from his changed Focus was a crystal about twice the size of his fist and faintly colored a split red and white, though patches of the two colors were becoming purple as if mold was growing within. Analyze Material just returned question marks, implying he could have used his power on the item but that the blanket unindentification of his past week was screening this knowledge out along with his new powers.
The next item was a collection of pale green sling shot ammo that were obviously enchanted. His attempts to use his heightened Encyclopedia function to scan them in hopes of determining the Formulae were unsuccessful. Invest Affix didn’t work, implying they were both level 1 and already had one in place. Further, Daniel could put his Personal Mark on the spheres, meaning he had made them. Considering what he’d made during the siege, Daniel had a guess as to what these were and quickly put them back in the bag before they could be exposed to any static electricity.
Lastly, there were the clothes and leather armor he’d been wearing the night Hammer had kidnapped him. Daniel changed, again thankful for the privacy, and looked at the symbol on the back of the robes. There was gold and viridian threaded into the back, making this simple garment worth more than the few coins he had on him. Assuming the thread was the spun metal. Lograve had said the materials used for coinage were magically inert, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be manipulated physically. Otherwise, no one could turn it into coins.
Having done everything he could think of to react to his own sudden reappearance, Daniel looked from the window to the door and sighed. He’d almost forgotten about the Tyrant while inspecting those last few items, but the prospect that he might face them soon chilled his already somber mood.
…
Ashier was not the first person to visit Daniel after his house arrest, as he learned when someone pounded on his door an hour into his attempts to keep calm. Despite having just arrived, the events and his emotional outlook had left him drained, unwilling to do much else. The Artificer wondered why whoever it was didn’t just open the door, assuming it to be one of the guards, until he opened it and found it was one of his friends.
“Guy?” Daniel threw his arms around Thomas as if the Cleric was a life vest in the middle of a stormy sea. The Cleric returned the hug, pushing both of them into the room rather forcefully. Quickly closing the door once the moment was over, Thomas took a moment to look Daniel up and down once before, wide-eyed, he asked, “Guy, what the fuck happened? They’re saying you spoke to Hammer in person.”
Where to begin? The last time Daniel had seen the Cleric was when he’d used his reset power to try and shake Silora out of her trance, though all that had accomplished was stopping her seizures. He’d been injured and it seemed he’d lost his Focus yet again, leaving him unfit to follow them to the Eye when Daniel and his team, Wings of Craft, went to stop the apocalypse. “What did Khiat tell you?”
“Khiat? Guy, I haven’t seen anyone for the past week! I’ve been locked up in the church and as far as I know, they’re in the Hunter’s Guild. How is there a Tyrant here? Did they win?”
“No.” Daniel realized Thomas knew less than he did about the state of the city despite the Cleric’s penchant for gossip and relayed what he’d learned. When the topic got to Ashier and what the gestalt’s relation to Murdon had been, he had to stop the Cleric from exploding in pure anger. It wasn’t an emotion he’d associated with Thomas, but as he learned, there was a good reason.
“That… that bastard killed hundreds of people when the nobles tried to take back the city. It was supposed to go like Armafus centuries ago. My brother and father were there, and that draconoid-“
“He’s Rorshawd.” Daniel looked at the aura he could still see on the Eye. The knowledge that the dragon could put auras on people to track them in turn did occur to Daniel as he was considering the merits of an escape attempt, though Divination Aegis should prevent that from happening to him. It was a gamble to assume that given Rorshawd broke about as many conventional rules as Daniel did.
Thomas stopped mid-rant when Daniel brought up that topic and looked at the Artificer’s hands. He didn’t try to hide them or his tell. “I’m going to kill them, Guy.”
“Thomas, Hunter is dead.” It hurt to even say, but Daniel had to stop Thomas from trying to beat the record for the world’s shortest attempted coup. “Evalyn, Tak, Lograve, and Gadriel disappeared. I don’t think they’re dead but it sounds like Khiat doesn’t know what happened to them. The last thing I remember is Hammer showing up, and everything from there to coming back to the Eye is blank.”
“More amnesia, Guy?”
“Yeah.” Daniel opened his mouth, about to mention the unsteadiness in his mind, but held off. He was fairly certain it was just grief at this point and they had more important things to talk about.
In the continued silence, Thomas sat against the wall opposite Daniel, just enough space in the room for their feet not to touch. “Gods, Daniel, I’m sorry about Hunter. Do you have his body?”
“No.” Daniel looked away, knowing why he was asking. “I thought I had it before Hammer showed up, but now I just have his armor.”
“Guy… I don’t know if it’ll make you feel worse or better, but this long after someone dies he’s as good as gone.” The Cleric grimaced at the news and continued to explain when Daniel didn’t visibly react. “We don’t know why. No one who comes back remembers what happened. A week’s about as long as you get, after that there’s just nothing to bring back. I’d like to think he’s in a better place now.”
“Me too.” Daniel sighed and looked back toward Thomas. “How are you here? I thought you said you were being kept in the church.”
Thomas didn’t answer immediately, delaying for a few noticeable seconds. “I heard you came back and snuck out. It’s not like they’ll kill you for it and they’ve barely touched the Divine Quarter besides restricting access to it. At least the Tyrant’s not an impious bastard, but they have to go.”
“Do they?” Thomas’ eyes widened further at the question.
“Guy, wait, you met the Tyrant. Did they use anything on you?”
“No.” Daniel wasn’t sure if he’d know or not since he couldn’t ask Earth-Daniel to list the active effects on him, and no notification had come up, but he felt that was the right answer. There were enough ripples in his soul that they’d react to anything else inside of it. “Thomas, I know this is where you grew up, but I’m leaving this place the first chance I get and going to Threst. I don’t know what I’m going to do about Hunter, but the other people missing aren’t here. Murdon has a bond with Lograve. If anyone can find him it’s him.”
Daniel’s sudden conviction troubled Thomas, who didn’t immediately object to the plan. “I may know someone too, but it’s tricky.” The Cleric looked around suddenly. “Guy, does that divination blocking thing still work?” The app was indeed still there despite his phone changing and appeared to work as normal. When Daniel nodded in response, Thomas bit his lip and came to a decision. “Alright, Guy, I need to tell you something. I’ve been keeping a pretty big secret. From all of you, only Lograve and Gadriel knew.”
“What?” Daniel had a good idea that it related to Thomas’ broken Focus, though he couldn’t imagine what would make the Cleric speak as if Daniel himself were confessing his origins to the Cleric.
“You remember that shavi? The Fate? We made a deal, back when you guys were hunting. For the next year, she has to do whatever I say. It’s a contract bond and it’s a good thing too because the Tyrant can’t use whatever power it is that makes people their slaves on her because of it. She’s been feeding me information with Farspeech and I’ve been trying to get some kind of resistance going with that, but-”
“Why would she do that?” Daniel’s eyebrows furrowed as he interrupted Thomas.
“I helped her out of the deal she had with the city. I lost my powers because of it, well, most of them, and the bond’s there as a way to pay me back,” Thomas explained slowly, carefully choosing his words. Daniel was unable to stop himself from reaching the conclusion based on what he’d learned from the failed ritual he’d just interrupted. When he considered the circumstances around when Thomas’ first Focus had been destroyed, as well as the fact that no one had given a good explanation of how he’d undone the permanent control of the lake monster, the answer was obvious.
“You…” Daniel stood up, his mouth going dry as he tried to think of another possible explanation, but the look of mild horror on Thomas’ face convinced him it was the truth. “You can raise the dead?”
“Guy, quiet about-“
“You can do that, and you used it on her!?” Daniel shouted, one of his hands reflexively changing into the bird-like attack form as he clenched a fist. The storm within him was raging now. “Hunter is dead! He’s dead, and you-“
“I didn’t know that would happen, alright!” Thomas shot to his feet as well but backed away both from the door and Daniel. “Look, I couldn’t tell anyone. If people found out then someone would find a way to do what Claret tried to do to you. Crest, Silora was blackmailing me.”
“Hunter is dead,” Daniel repeated, not caring at all about what might be a perfectly valid reason. “If you could use that power right now-“
“Then it wouldn’t matter, would it? You lost the body!” Thomas shouted defensively, abandoning his attempts to keep the conversation quiet. The Cleric grimaced at his own words but was too late to say anything else before Daniel’s empowered fist hit him in the face, knocking him into the window where he bounced off the invisible Shroud rather than fall out. The impact didn’t feel as crushing to Daniel as when he’d fought against the thieves, but he’d still done more damage than he’d expected.
The brief fear that crossed Thomas’ face made him stop completely, draining away the anger as Daniel realized that without his Focus, Thomas couldn’t stop him if he tried to kill him. “Thomas-“ he reached into his bag, but the last healing potion he’d had had been used to destroy Rasalia’s zombie. The Cleric removed a hand from the nose which was clearly broken and bleeding profusely. It looked so bad that Daniel was suddenly worried for his friend’s life. Thomas shouldn’t have been that weak, even if he’d had one degree of level disparity to endurance to fix. He hadn’t leveled to 3 without fixing that, had he?
“Shit, Thomas!” Daniel went for the door but the Cleric groaned something through his bloodied mouth to stop him. He realized the problem instantly. Thomas must have been trying to avoid people noticing that he’d lost his Focus. If people saw him with an injury he couldn’t heal, it would tip them off. They might not make an immediate connection to his secret power, but it was notice no one wanted while a Tyrant was in town.
He was partway into shredding some of the clothes that had been stuffed into a patchy pillowcase for bandaging when he saw the hand Thomas wasn’t covering his face with begin to glow with a soft light. Moments later, a bubble appeared in the space around Thomas, expanding to about half a meter out before it looked like the Cleric stopped it from going further. Daniel watched as the blood stopped flowing from Thomas’ nose while he nasally mumbled, “Vitality Bubble?”
“You just awakened a power?” Daniel asked disbelievingly. “How could you do that without a Focus?”
Thomas put his hand off and on his nose several times to make sure he was actually healing, though he still drew in a sharp breath with the last one as he tried pinching his nose. “Fuck,” he moaned, sitting under the window. The bubble around him disappeared, taking the glowing field within with it.
“Are you ok?”
The Cleric stood a little unsteadily and didn’t look in Daniel’s direction. “I should go.”
“Wait, Thomas, I’m sorry.” The Cleric waved a hand and started walking to the door, Daniel feeling in no way up to blocking him. The anger had welled up in him instantly, just like it had when he’d first seen Rorshawd. The raw emotional edge inside of him had just cut one of the only people left he was close to.
The thought that this could be the last time he saw Thomas, either because the Cleric would be done with him or the Tyrant would put him in prison for sneaking out, made Daniel open his mouth before the Cleric got to the door. “Thomas, I’ve got a big secret too. I’m from another world.”