The pyre hidden in the shade of the forest blazed as a blob of fat fell into it from above. It spit out a tower of flames into the night sky, singeing the rotating animal carcass above it, a rusty broken claymore embedded through it. It was butchered horribly, strings of sinew and silver adorning the meat, parts of it charred while some still had blood dripping from it.
Snoring echoed through the tiny clearing, stumps of trees ripped in two still littering the grass. Some hulking figures rested upon beds tied together from tree trunks, which still held their bark, no doubt to the displeasure of the two lying upon it. The rest of the camp was busy preparing their, in the lowest sense, food. One cared for the rotisserie, as others stole pieces off of the corpse on the rod, while another slaughtered the next meat for the fire. He tossed what looked to be the hind of a cow into a bucket of similarly sloppy work.
As Alex squinted his eyes, the sight of a pair of arms beneath the mass of muscle confirmed his suspicions. Glancing across the camp, he saw a prison made of the remains of what he could only assume to be the club of ogres’ past sustenance. Only one guarded it, who had nodded off as she leaned on the cube of bones, leaving the horrified and frightened humans, and one annoyed elf, without an observer.
Slowly, from behind the cage of bones, he could barely make out a bed of ivy creeping in from the trees, wrapping around the ivory, enough mana flowing through the vines to crack the calcium supports. He could see them lift the entire cage, ensuring that it wouldn’t disturb the ogre resting, allowing more to slither beneath the walls of the prison. Making a bed, they gathered beneath the captives’ feet, waiting for the command.
He pulled out a bunch of arrows, a couple more than he needed, just in case, holding it in the same grip as his bow, using his free hand to steady himself against the tree trunk. Standing almost horizontal to the bark, one foot pressing against the wood, the other wedged behind it, Alex notched an arrow in preparation for his partner to strike.
If he had blinked, he would have missed the entire ordeal. In an instant, the bed of vines shot upwards, wrapping themselves around the prisoners’ mouths, before the ivy swaddled the bewildered beings, stopping their screams and their wriggling before dragging them through the tiny gap. As they slithered back into the trees, the entire cage slammed down, jolting the ogre resting on it awake, who turned around to gauge what had disturbed her.
Why not go down there and sow carnage, instead of cowering in the shade.
The string shot out of his hands as Alex weakened his finger’s grip, his hand already moving to grab another as the arrow darted through the air. He had already released another before the first hit the back of the ogre’s thick skull, shards of bone embedding into her brain as the steel tipped projectile tore through it and onto the other side. But focusing on the first would’ve given her tribe a breather, as another ogre collapsed soon after the guard, an arrow embedding itself into the second’s eye.
The next recipient was the ogre caring for the food, who lifted the rusty sword from the flame, spinning around to look for the archer hidden in the forest. His mouth opened to scream, raising the meat stick above his head, but nothing came out as two more arrows struck his forehead. The monster fell back onto the campfire, causing another tower of flame to erupt upwards, illuminating the others left. Someone yelled into the forest, trying to scare whoever they thought was firing at them, only to have three more ogres crumple to the ground, an arrow jutting out of each of their heads.
Two were left, the two lying on the bed of trees, waking up in a rage that disguised their panic, spinning on their feet, scampering to pick up weapons to defend themselves. Releasing another arrow, Alex clicked his tongue as his target ducked at the last second, a lucky slip, leaving him with only a single arrow against two.
Haven’t noticed you yet, time to go say hello.
I really need to find a way to shut you up again.
Alex rebutted the Empress’ advice as he released his foot from behind the tree, allowing himself to fall through the branches of the pine, trying to preserve as much speed as he could. Weaving through the wooden limbs, he stared at the two ogres, who were glancing around in an attempt to spot where the arrows were coming from, while he was busy choosing how to line them up.
Before he struck the ground, arms of ink pried the dirt apart to allow a passage into the domain of shadows. As his body turned to umbra, sinking into the sea of darkness, his hand notched another arrow as the shadows slowed his rise towards the surface. He could not see where he was nor where he was going, but his mind and memory guided him through the warm inky fluid. Alex started to sink back towards the plane of light, commanding the sea to push him faster, forcing his body to exit the dimension at the same speed it entered.
Lightning ran through his veins, racing towards his bow as its string was pulled back in preparation. Purple electricity arced over his clothes, between his fingers, and churned betwixt the metal layers of his bow. Even through the supposed abyss surrounding him, the snaps of lightning echoed around him, as his magic started to energise the remaining arrow, the spell completing just before he pierced the pale veil at the bottom of the domain.
He shot out from the flank of the two monsters, neither of the ogres noticing Alex before gravity caught up to him. The last moments for them would’ve been filled with a terrifying bang before everything went black. The arrow was not shot by him, as soon as he let go of the bowstring, it bolted forwards, scorching the very air itself, which crackled in its wake as it hurtled through the ogres’ skulls. For a moment, he could see through the gaping charred hole torn through the two monster’s heads, before they crumpled to the ground. His arrow was sticking out from the bark of a tree, a clump of metal at its end, the speed having caused the tip to liquify.
“DEAD!” Alex screamed into the trees, only to have his partner appear behind him.
“Ten shots for eight kills. However, I will let that slide due to the last two,” Elyza remarked, and he couldn’t help but smile as she did.
“The rest okay?”
“Two were injured, I have given them some potions to treat their wounds. They are rattled, but as healthy as they will be in a dark forest,” She relayed, yanking out an arrow from the corpse at her feet.
Flexing his string plucking finger to relax it, looking up at the stars he commented, grinning as he did, “We can’t get a single day without killing anything.”
“Two hours till we hit the next village in the cluster,” His partner reminded him, tossing a couple of arrows to him, their tips soaked with blood.
“Let’s hope at least this one will be interesting.”
----------------------------------------
The carriage was filled with snores, as sonorous as the many giants he had met in his travels. Alex had taken the reins of the carriage for now, but as Elyza leant on the canvas behind them, resting, he couldn’t blame either her or their passengers. It had been a long day for them all, and probably traumatising for a few, so some rest would do them good.
But as their snores grated against his ears, he had to squash the thought of swerving off the road to wake them all up, tilting his head upwards to gaze at the stars. He wanted to test himself if he could deduce where they were on the map, instead he found a sight to behold. The purple carpet that formed the night sky was littered with balls that twinkled on their own volition, yet none of them were able to stop the march of the orange sea from the east, slowly overwhelming whatever creatures were trapped between the stars.
There were a few Alex remembered his mother telling him about; a sword curving towards the north, a dragon coiled around a kneeling hunter, a bear smelling for prey, and more that were not remotely close to interesting as the rest. As he stared at the line of skirmish, making their way forward for the sun’s light, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness as another constellation fell to it. It was his mother’s favourite, Yggdrasil, the symbol of family in elven culture.
Before his thoughts could sink to his past, which his freeloader had made sure to dredge up along with herself, his seat shifted underneath. Soon, his partner’s hand shook his shoulder, Elyza’s voice grounding him effortlessly. “We’re about to reach the town,” She noted, pointing past him to shift his attention into the trees. As he followed her gaze, he saw a small shrine enclosed by shrubs, carved from marble, and by its yellow shine, still cared for after a good few decades. The rock was carved to depict a dwarf with a large head featuring bulging eyes, a protruding tongue, a beard and a lion’s mane, along with a pole that a giant would feel jealous of. Bes, a rare god to worship in Luminae, but as they neared the border, everything seemed to blend together, same as Surasho, so encountering his considerable length was not as surprising as what they encountered next.
A few hundreds of metres of travelling saw the carriage finally enter the boundary of the border town, and it was absolutely barren. The buildings seemed decrepit, the houses silent as a winter’s morning, the mud streets absent of any footprints, and the air felt too still for him. It was early, true, but it would be difficult to imagine that the majority of the villagers weren’t involved with agriculture, and as the first rays of morning beamed above them, Alex couldn’t help but grin.
“Why are you smiling?” Elyza inquired, scanning their surroundings as the carriage kept moving, wanting to spot his reason for amusement, the look of confusion on her face dropping as she realised what he had. “Ah, it appears that this day may be fruitful,” She remarked, flicking her hand to release her halberd, preparing to face an ambush.
“Calm down, Ears,” Alex advised, pulling back on the reins to slow the horses as they started to delve deeper into the town. “It’s best to not count your chickens before they hatch, otherwise people go hungry,” he remarked, looking for the town guild’s sign. It was easy, most of the shops had boarded up their windows, their signs hacked to pieces, glass littering the entrances, all except one. The mouldy spruce sign bore the emblem of the guild, but strangely the symbol of Luminae on the shield had been gouged out. The rest of the building mirrored its brethren, but unlike the rest, it still seemed operational.
“That appears promising,” His partner remarked, her words sarcastic yet her tone anything but.
Oh god, she’s turning into you.
Grinning at the fear in Elina’s voice, he slowed down the carriage, pulling on the reins softly so that the horses didn’t make any noise, he looked expectantly at her, waiting for her instructions. “I will tell our companions to stay put and not make any noises, and to expect to be startled by others. Check if the guild has been compromised while I do so, and try to not harm anyone, significantly at least, while you are in the building,” She quickly ordered, jumping off of the seat, using her halberd to balance herself as she landed on the drying mud.
“Roger that, boss. I’ll try and save some fun for you, but you better hurry,” Alex replied, grinning as his mind already came up with a plan to burn down the entire building if the need arose, before his soles had even touched the ground.
Finally, something we both will find enjoyment in.
Sighing, he walked towards the guild doors, half his mind trying to shove the Empress back into her corner, something she fought ferociously against, throwing old memories into his consciousness to distract him. The other half was yearning for stimuli as soon as the doors swung open, his free hand flipping up his hood to shield his eyes.
The room was impeccably clean, the floors shiny enough to eat off of, the wooden walls seemingly freshly varnished, reflecting the chandelier hanging from the roof. It seemed to be better taken care of than the main building back in the capital, not even a burst of mana from deep within revealing the truth behind its appearance. The smell of azalea and peonies.
It was nigh spotless, all except the one man sitting in the corner to his right, who smelled worse than the ogres Alex had just fought. His boots were caked with dry mud, flies hovering around his tilted hat, an act to appear slumbering, and a rusty flail resting on his lap, positioned in a way that it would be trivial to wield it.
“What do you hrafnasueltira want no–” A booming voice screamed from behind the counter, whoever it was, they hit their head as they tried to get up from beneath a counter, the entire row of desks jolting as they did. Soon, after letting out a low groan of pain, with some annoyance sprinkled within it, the guild hand poked their head out, and froze.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Will you truly let someone of lower standing call you that?
Did the free-loader say something just now?
Being called a raven starver was new, but he had grinned through worse insults, so he began, “Hello, I was pass–” his voice trailed off as the guild hand sunk back under the counter. “ing through… Is this a new way of greeting? I’m a bit befuddled, I haven’t been in this part of Luminae in some while,” He continued, his voice keeping its pitch and tone stable as he spoke the lie.
There was no answer, just the sound of panicked rummaging, before the guild hand rose to her feet once again, looking much more held together than the flurry of dirty blonde strands that had popped out mere moments ago. Her blue eyes tried to pierce through Alex’s own, picking up where they were even behind his enchanted hood, carrying some sort of message within them, but they soon shifted to the man waiting for an opening behind him.
“I apologise for my outburst, some… hooligans are intent on trying to annoy me with fake requests,” the girl clarified, none of her words rehearsed, yet none of them true.
How are mortals this bad at lying?
We don’t have a millenia to practise, do we?
“Ah, I see… Personally, having a lot of experience with annoying guests, I understand your pain quite well,” Alex responded as he approached the desk, his eyes working overtime to try and discern what she wanted to tell him.
Her eyes betrayed her elven heritage, yet the strands of wheat on her head, now tied into a messy ponytail, said that wasn’t the end of her story. She seemed similar to Elyza, definitely a descendant of the continent, but in all respects she appeared to be straight from the propaganda that he had seen in the ancient libraries in his old home. But, she seemed unnaturally tall, not like his partner, the proportions of her head, body, and limbs, sending his mind into a flurry of thoughts as it tried to solve the puzzle.
Offering his hand as his brain ran through its archives, as soon as the guild hand accepted it, he knew exactly why she had piqued his interests. Her grip almost broke his hand, before she quickly adjusted her strength to match his. “Alex,” He responded, his unoccupied hand flipping back his hood, allowing his eyes to meet hers as he added, “Forgive my curiosity, were any of your recent ancestors giants perhaps?”
For a moment, her expression threatened to shift into bewilderment, but the guild hand was quickly able to mask it, about to answer, when the doors behind him swung ajar. It could only be her, fresh wind rushing into the building as Elyza stepped through the doorway. A tinge of jealousy filling his mind before it would appreciate the entrance.
However, it was not her entrance that had sent alarm bells in his head, as the perfume that emanated through the room was so rudely overwhelmed by what Alex could only assume to be the hobo’s morning breath. Sending out a pulse from within his core, as the mana returned to him, he could tell that the bum did not like the addition to the room, but he could be dealt with when the time came.
While the hobo was distracted by his partner, Alex commanded the tendrils lingering within his cloak to move over his shirt, the inky appendages wrapping themselves around his medallion, pushing it above the neck of his shirt so the guild hand could see the glimmering platinum oval. He knew exactly what was going through her mind as she stared at the pendant.
Confusion, analysis, recollection, realisation, and the preferred of the two possible endings, as hope lighted up her face before she dragged it back out of sight. “What’s your name?” Alex asked, dropping the guild’s medallion back under his shirt, leaning forward so she could talk in hushed tones. A grin appeared on his face as he felt Elyza stand next to him, busy in studying the guild for hidden enemies, paying no attention to either him or the guild hand, till the latter finally answered.
“Fioled, Master Alex. I am surprised to see someone… from across the ocean, make the effort to visit this lonely town,” The guild hand remarked, sliding towards him, letting her volume fall even more as she added, “Passing through, or staying?”
“Depends… Any work that needs to be done?”
“The town’s been in a rut since some bad actors have set up here,” Fioled whispered, keeping one eye on the hobo behind him, something Elyza paid attention to, rubbing her ring as she continued, “Hostages, threatening to kill them all, some sort of trafficking operation by the looks of it–”
Before she could continue, Alex started talking at the top of his lungs, “Could you please tell me which mountain has the most difficult trail in the range?” As he finished, only the shit of a slime would think that he wasn’t up to something, and accordingly, he felt the wooden boards beneath him shift under newer weight.
Elyza had noticed it as well, shifting herself in order to block the guild hand’s view of the hobo, who in turn was glaring daggers at her partner. “Why did you do that?” she whispered, to which he just gestured for her to continue, pulling out his pocket watch to check the time.
“Well,” Fioled refocused herself, realising she had to act quickly, “They’re working through the tunnels, seems to have considerable coin behind their operation, I’m quite lost on why or what they’re trying to do, but I’m ready to he– BEHIN–”
The words didn’t even have the chance to leave her mouth, his partner already having swung on her heels to deal with the attack. Elyza grabbed the metal chain of the flail, causing its head to wrap around her hand, her gauntlets deflecting its strike with a low thunk, before the mass of iron hung flaccidly in the air. Ripping the weapon from the hobo’s hand, there seemed to be a desperate attempt to take a swing at his partner.
An attempt stopped in its entirety by Alex catching the hobo’s fist, flashing a grin, before a crunchy crack echoed through the room. Elyza had connected perfectly with their attacker’s nose, splatters of blood soaking into the wooden floors, along with the clittering of a lone tooth, which settled next to the groaning pile at their feet.
“Fioled, was it?” Elyza spoke first, her voice fluidly pronouncing the local name, resting her foot on the hobo’s chest, and by the heave that followed, some of her weight as well. “While it would be advantageous to have another on our side, during our journey we encountered some orcs, and it would be best for them if they are seen to, as soon as possible. We shall deal with the slavers as soon as we give word to the capital.” She commanded, her voice carrying extra weight as she shifted some more of hers onto the bum.
Before her words ended, Alex had already pulled out a pen and his notepad, scribbling down their location and some additional instructions. Dropping the note down into his shadow, he closed his eyes to focus on parts of the dimensions residing outside of his domain of darkness, tracing a path for it to land right into Lati’s desk.
It is in no way YOUR dimension, child.
There was anxiety unsubtly hidden in Fioled’s voice as she bargained, “You don’t understand, they’ll dispose of them all to make sure nobody speaks against them. You can’t wai–”
“Enough,” his partner instructed, locking eyes with the guild hand, “We are just informing them where they need to send the sanitation crew afterwards. Now, take the carriage outside to the nearest village, and return in a day.”
Whether defiance sprouted up within her or not, her eyes relayed acceptance, bowing her head as she spoke, “Of course, Ma’am.” Her head only looked up once as she walked towards the door. Her eyes met his, filled with hope that they would succeed, before the door to the building shut to separate her from the three.
“No need to be so forceful, Ears. She just wanted to help…” Alex remarked, crouching to his knees to take a gander at the hobo, his eyes scanning the cloth he was sporting, trying to reveal any secrets they may hold.
“We know not the strength of who we face, it is best for her and us as well,” Elyza defended herself, leaning over the hobo, and he could hear the smile through which the next words came, “I already have you to worry about, do I not?”
He clicked his tongue at her, side-eying her as he snapped his fingers next to the groaning man’s ears. By the twitch that shuddered through his body, his eyes snapping open to see the two leaning over him, it meant that his ears were working, for now.
“Guten morgen, I sense we’ve got off on the wrong foot,” he said grinning, which grew wider as his partner shifted some more weight onto the hobo, continuing, “But my pleasantries are reserved for those who don’t try to kill me without even telling me why.”
“I’ll never talk,” the hobo spat out, his voice growling with fallacious opposition, but his eyes quivered as they gazed at them as they rolled their own.
“They all said that, they all failed to live up to their promise,” Alex mused, gently pulling the hobo’s hat off as he continued, “But here’s the thing Jeff, I’m going to call you Jeff, learning your actual name is too much effort.”
“See Jeff,” Elyza played along, adding some pressure as she spoke, “We already know that there are tunnels running under the town, we know most of them will be filled with guards, the more guards we encounter the closer we know we are, and one of them will be more than willing to spill their guts.”
“But, instead of gutting you like my partner wishes to, I’m willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself, or you could die as a spineless disfigured shit speck on the tapestry of history earlier than fate had planned for you.”
“No adventurer can kill without authorisation,” Jeff shot back, only to elicit a yawn from Alex.
“Please,” Alex drawled out with a grin, “‘Adventurer’ is only one of my many titles, but I understand your final stance.”
“We are not…” Elyza instructed, her voice trailing off as she replaced her foot with the other, relieving some pressure from Jeff’s chest
Buzzkill.
Alex sighed as he gestured to her to step back, addressing the hobo with his words, “Unfortunately, my partner has decided the opposite of the voice in my head. However you fit into the organisation, you aren’t important enough, or frankly, threatening enough to be deserving of death.”
With a single thought, as his hand grabbed the air and pulled it upwards, inky tendrils shot up from under the floorboards with a trail of dust. The shadows wrapped around Jeff, pulling him up to the ceiling, the black ropes weaving into the dark of the wood, till he hung like a bat in a cave, tendrils covering his mouth to keep him quiet.
Modifying his magic till the hobo’s eyes were level to his, Alex pulled out an inked pen to scribble what the duo were planning to do, sticking the quill in Jeff’s hair before remarking, “But I'll see to it you have a wonderful rest of your life when we’re back.”
He gave him a little pat on the cheek before turning on his heels as he asked, “Where to next, boss?”
His partner closed her eyes, stretching out her hands, causing whispers of air to rush past his ears as they followed her command. He could spot the dust between the wooden boards being dragged by the miniscule vortexes she had created to rake the entire chamber from the ceiling to the floors beneath them. The wind rushed through the room, seeking any space that let them in, anything that seemed peculiar, returning to their wielder. The gale formed a tiny pile of dust at Elyza’s feet before she let them dissipate.
She did not speak, only gesturing to him to follow, her ears stiffening as they sank towards her hair. The wood seemed not to know it was being traversed upon by others, barely releasing a creek as the two jumped over the counter. His partner guided them towards the back of the building, saying nothing till she stood at one of its corners, kneeling down to run her hand over the gaps of the boards.
Tracing the black lines in the floor, her fingers slid beneath the wood till they stopped entirely. Elyza stood up, and instructed, “Stand back.”
As the words faded into nothingness, her hand flicked upwards to call upon her halberd, which materialised into her hands silently, only a low grunt emanating from its wielder as the spear’s tip scratched the tapering ceiling. Backing up a bit, his partner held her weapon so that its blade faced the boards, before she hammered it straight down at the wooden floor.
If it was real, a resounding bang would have rang through the Building as steel struck stone. Instead, the boards cracked completely under the swing, splinters exploding out from the point of impact, some embedding themselves in the beige wooden walls. As Elyza raised her weapon, he could see light seeping up from beneath the planks. Alex was given a better view of the ladder leading into the earth as his partner flipped her halberd, using the hook to move the cracked boards to one side.
“After you,” Elyza proclaimed, her halberd shrinking back around her finger, holding out her hand to help him down.
Slapping her hand down, sighing playfully, he remarked, “I know the drill, Ears… This has the universe's payback for giving me impeccable ears and eyes.”
Kicking a piece of wood into the flickering orange tunnel bored into the hard rock, he stood over with his ear angled downwards. He raised his pocket watch to his eyes, staring at the second hand as it trudged on round the brushed bronze face of the clock, noting its each step forward. He waited till his ears picked up the thump of the hunk of wood on the bottom of the tunnel.
“What’s life without a bit of danger?” Alex remarked after the cogs in his head stopped moving, his eyes gleaming as he gave his partner a wink, taking a step onto the absent floor and letting himself fall.