Chapter 17

Pirates became a problem in the Crystal Ocean, there was a growing epidemic of them attacking fishing ships or merchant ships. Kagu Atomo took it upon himself and assigned his sons to eliminate the pirates. Within six months of constant skirmish, the two twelve-year-old boys successfully reduced pirate activity to almost nothing.

“Hurry take out the loot, it's safe here,” Cang said sitting down on a large boulder. The group was in a small naturally formed cave. They had created multiple glowing lights thoroughly illuminating the area.

“Alright, remember we each get an equal share per the agreement,” Nivra reminded everyone. The rest nodded their heads in agreement. Nivra then waved his hand causing a large pile of loot to appear. Now that he had time Nivra study the pile of loot before him. Nivra eyes widened as he began to recognize many of the items. Breezeridge sapphires littered the pile along with multiple other gems. Among the piles of gems were bottles that appeared to be made out if jade. Nivra picked up one of the bottles to inspect. He nearly dropped the bottle upon reading its label. The label had a gourd imprinted on the bottle with the words “Channel opening pill.”

“It's really a channel opening pill from Tokanoba!” Nivra nearly yelled.

“What kind of pill is that?” Toalf asked. Before Nivra could answer Sutek stepped forward to explain.

“These pills are exclusively made by Tokanoba’s medicine lord. The pill allows someone who has blocked channels to open them,” Sutek explained. Nivra looked at Sutek in surprise.

“How do you know that? These pills are not common knowledge,” Nivra said confused as to how Sutek knew about the pills. Sutek chuckled as he answered.

“Tokanoba has secretly been selling them to Jasmine for years,” Sutek said.

“Those backstabbing cucks! How long have they been working with Jasmine!?” Nivra cursed.

“Enough of the pointless political talk. How much are these pills worth exactly?” Cang said interrupting.

“They are priceless. You won't see them on the open market. Only the rulers of countries will usually be able to get ahold of one,” Sutek further explained.

“If that's the case how did these merchants get them?” Toalf asked.

“No idea, the only thing I can think of is that it is essentially a bribe. Tokanoba is not going to be happy that their bribe to Verkarion vanished,” Nivra said with a chuckle.

“There seem to be three pills in this bottle. So how are going to distribute them?” Cang asked eyeing the pills while licking his lips. Tension filled the air as they glanced at each other.

“I have no interest in them,” Sutek said while leaning back.

“I and Tuin will take one while Cang and Toalf will take one each,” Nivra said finishing the matter. They continued to sort through and distribute the pile of loot. There were gems, precious metals, and medical pills. The last object was the egg that Nivra had in a sack.

“I am going to have a thick face and ask that this egg remains in my possession,” Nivra stated. The rest looked at Nivra somewhat surprised. Seeing their looks, Nivra could only grin. I have always been a little jealous of my brother for having Rem. There is no way I am going to give up a chance to have my own companion he thought to himself.

“Since you were the one that organized this little adventure it only makes sense for you to get a larger share,” Sutek said. The rest nodded their heads as Sutek’s suggestion made sense.

“Well if that's all I'll be leaving,” Cang said as he stood up. The rest also stood up prepared to go their separate ways.

“Wait, I have another proposition,” Nivra said also standing up. The others stopped in their tracks and turned to face Nivra.

“I'm all ears,” Sutek said with a smile.

“I am planning to found my own underground organization in Artisan city. I welcome all of you to follow me,” Nivra explained. The others upon hearing Nivra’s proposal sunk into deep thought. After a few moments both Sutek and Toalf had agreed to follow Nivra while Cang was undecided.

“So Cang what will it be?” Nivra asked after giving Cang some time.

“I really would like to join as I have made more in this one job than the last three years combined! The only problem is I don't like partaking in violence,” Cang explained his dilemma. Hearing Cang’s issue Nivra pondered for a few moments.

“Alright, if you join I promise you will only be responsible for supporting the others,” Nivra gave his offer.

“I accept,” Cang happily said.

“I'm glad to have you all on board. I promise you will not regret this decision,” Nivra swore.

“We should get going. Artisan is still a long way away,” Sutek said with a laugh. They exited the cave and began their journey to Artisan with just the five of them.

The journey was uneventful for a few days until Sutek came up with an idea.

“It will take forever to walk there! We need to borrow a carriage from someone,”

“Borrow? I think you mean steal,” Toalf remarked.

“How could a noble prince like myself do something so crude as stealing,”

“You did that crude act a few days ago,”

“Nonsense! That's simply tribute that was owed to this prince.” Sutek explained.

“Hey, Niv I think this guy is a few colors short of a rainbow,” Toalf said with a hint of laughter. Nivra could only shake his head and chuckle at the exchange. With these last few days of travel, they had gotten closer and less restrained. Nivra has also learned a bit more about his new partners. Toalf was from Jetkah and was a soul tapper that followed a different path compared to Nivra. Nivra learned that Toalf controlled insects, mostly through a queen though he did have some larger ones that he controlled directly. While Sutek was a mind tapper that had an affinity with metal which was common among the Jasmine nobles. Cang, on the other hand, was pretty tight-lipped.

“He does have a point we should get our hands on a carriage,” Nivra said, agreeing with Sutek. With the decision made they set up a concealed camp on the side of the road to await a carriage. As they settled in Toalf took out a black artifact that looked like a small wasp nest. A few wasps the size of a palm flew out of the artifact scattering in different directions.

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“These little fellows should help us detect anything that approaches,” Toalf said petting one of the wasps before sending it off. The others involuntarily shivered at the cloud of wasps flying about. They waited for a few hours patiently when Toalf stood up suddenly.

“There's a group coming from the wilderness,” Toalf said. Everyone stood up prepared to act. After a couple minutes passed they could hear someone voices.

“I think we finally lost those damn Breezeridge soldiers,” a gruff voice said.

“Seems so. They were persistent little buggers after three weeks we finally lost them,” Another voice responded.

“Hey boss what are we going to do now?” A third person asked.

“We will steal a carriage and take it to Verkarion so we can sell our loot,” the gruff voice said. Hearing the conversation, Nivra figured it was another bandit group. A thought turned in his head as he decided if he was going to make an underground organization he would need some grunts.

“Listen up I want to recruit these guys regardless if their willing or not. Do you guys have a way to control them so they won't backstab us?”

“I can put insect eggs in them so if they try and rebel the insects will hatch and eat them alive,” Toalf offered. The other looked at Toalf with shock in their eyes at how perverse he was.

“I like it! We will go with that,” Nivra said with a laugh. Nivra walked out of the concealed camp heading towards the other bandits. Nivra stepped out in front of the bandits causing then to stop in surprise.

“Move out of the way or die!” The gruff-voiced bandit yelled drawing his longsword.

“I'll give you two options, serve me willingly or put up a fight and still end up serving me,” Nivra said in a tyrannical tone. The bandit's faces became enraged as they prepared to attack.

“Kill him, boys,” the bandit leader roared as he began to charge at Nivra. Nivra shook his head in disappointment. Before the bandits could get close, they stopped due to a loud buzzing sound.

“By the laws! What are those?” One of the bandits screamed pointing to a swarm of palm-sized wasps.

“Those are my little helpers. If you don't do what I say they may get upset,” Nivra said in a mocking tone.

“What do you mean by serve you?” The gruff sounding bandit asked.

“It's simple, I have my own little group that I want you to join,” Nivra calmly explained.

“We're not going to follow someone that shows up out of nowhere and threatens us,” The bandit retorted. Hearing the reply Nivra expression turned frosty.

“You act like I'm giving you a choice,” Nivra hissed out as the wasps buzzing increased. Seeing the wasps, many of the bandits threw down their weapons and kneeled on the ground in surrender. The gruff bandit snorted while also throwing down his blade.

“Alright you win,” the bandit leader said grudgingly.

“I knew you would see it my way. Follow me back to my camp,” Nivra commanded walking away. The bandits followed Nivra not daring to resist in fear of upsetting the wasps. Nivra lead them back to the concealed encampment.

“Everyone, please take a seat and have some food you all must be starving,” Nivra said waving at some food that he had prepared. The bandits sat down, uncomfortable at the situation. They hesitantly began to eat as they did not see any other options. Nivra sat quietly as they ate.

“Now that you have eaten my food we can now be considered comrades,” Nivra laughed. The bandits stared at Nivra as if they were looking at a madman.

“So mister what exactly are we doing here?” one of the bandits had the courage to ask.

“Mister? Just call me boss. What we need to do is get ahold of a carriage. It's getting late though so there should not be any carriages traveling at this time so you all can get some rest,” Nivra rambled on. Nivra saw the confused and terrified faces of the bandits and could only chuckle to himself. He then went and layer down pretending to go to sleep. The bandits not sure what to do waited for the sun to completely set before making a move.

“He looks to be asleep. Should we escape now?” one of the bandits whispered.

“I say we kill him for this disgrace,” another chimed in. The bandit leader heard these suggestions before coming to a decision.

“I am going to kill this insane little punk! You guys watch my back,” the gruff-voiced bandit said as he unsheathed a simple dagger. He walked towards the sleeping Nivra raising his dagger. As he stood over top Nivra before he could strike with the dagger the bandit stumbled forward before letting out a heart-wrenching scream. The bandit fell to the ground as he continued to scream uncontrollably. Hearing the scream Nivra stood up to take a look at the screaming man.

“You just had to go and do something stupid. The rest of you get over here I want you to see what happens when you go against me,” Nivra commanded. The bandits quickly hurried over to the screaming man. Upon seeing the man, the bandits faces turned completely white. The man had multiple bulges underneath his skin that were wriggling about. Suddenly one of the bulges burst open with a spray of blood. Emerging from the bulge was a vicious looking centipede. More bulges erupted revealing a multitude of evil looking centipedes. The centipedes borrowed back into the man's flesh. The screaming came to an abrupt end as the centipedes finished devouring him.

After witnessing their leader get devoured the bandits began to vomit uncontrollably.

“Just so you know all of you have eggs inside of you. They will remain dormant unless you betray me,” Nivra explained. As Nivra was talking the centipedes crawled over to Toalf who was walking out of a hidden area outside the camp. Toalf held out his black artifact causing the centipedes to be sucked inside. The bandits shivered hearing that they themselves were infested with those terrifying centipedes.

“I think you nearly scared them to death,” Sutek chuckled as he walked over.

“It's good for them. Teaches them the important lesson of not getting on my bad side,” Nivra said with a cold glint in his eyes. Sutek chuckled at Nivra’s ruthlessness.

“You would fit right in with the Jasmine nobility,” Sutek pointed out. Hearing this caused Nivra to scowl.

“Don't lump me in with those pompous cucks,” Nivra growled in disdain.

“Alright, got it,” Sutek said holding up his hands. The night quickly passed as the sun began to rise. A few hours after the sun had risen a group of three carriages approached the hidden camp site. Nivra’s group ambushed the carriages and was able to easily kill or chase off the guards. After seizing the carriages they began to swiftly move towards Artisan City. Along the way, they encountered other groups that Nivra decided to take control of with similar means. Their numbers grew as they approached artisan. They finally arrived outside artisan city after traveling for nearly a month.

“It sure is beautiful,” Toalf said admiring the massive city. The walls of the city were carved with reliefs depicting numerous ancient beasts along with battles that had been long forgotten. A majestic aura emanated from the city and spread out for miles. Seeing the city Nivra reminisced about the only other time visiting was when he had his two weapons forged. This city had left a major impression on him from that single visit. Nivra recalled that this was one of the few ancient city that far predated any existing country. While it was within Verkarions territory, it was considered its own sovereign power. Turning his gaze to the gates, Nivra saw multiple guards searching everyone that entered and even rejecting some.

“This may be a problem,” Nivra mused as he gazed at the gate. We will probably have to go in smaller groups as it seems that any large group without a writ would be rejected Nivra analyzed. Sending in small groups of three or four masquerading as traveling merchants is probably the best way Nivra thought. Nivra then explained his plan to the rest of the group. He began separating his men into small groups. He made his group the last to go so he could keep his men in line. Over the next few days, Nivra sent small groups of men into the city including Tuin and the rest. Only a few groups remained including Nivra’s. As another group went to enter they were suddenly detained by the guards. Nivra frowned in confusion wondering why that group was captured. He then sent another group in only for the same thing to happen.

This is not good! Why are they targeting my men? They must have an informant Nivra came to a conclusion. Just to make sure Nivra sent the last group in only for them to get captured as well. Seeing that left only one option and that was to sneak into the city undetected. Nivra began thinking of away to get into the city. He bided his time for a few days when an opportunity presented itself. A massive caravan much larger than the one he had been apart of was slowly moving towards Artisan.

I should be able to sneak my way in by hiding in this caravan he decided. He rushed off towards the caravan. Nivra began to study the caravan from a distance. After studying for a while, he was confident in infiltrating the caravan. Nivra saw his window of opportunity and bolted towards the caravan. Like a shadow, he avoided the guards and swiftly entered into a storage carriage. He quickly went to a large locked chest and using nimora unlocked the chest. Luckily this chest was not an artifact chest like the one he had robbed previously. He sucked the contents of the chest into his pendant then quickly jumped into the chest. Using his nimora, he shut the chest lid and relocked the chest. Sitting in the darkness he waited for the caravan to enter into the city.