“Snaffu?” Rielle asked, seeming to sound out the word. “Whats snaffu?”
“It means he messed up, right?” McKenna turned, looking at Colin.
“Eh, sort of. Timing was bad, walked in as I was finishing up. Luckily, I got our stuff. Shall we leave this place?” Colin grinned.
Rielle nodded emphatically.
“Okay, but how? As far as I know, none of our stuff will get us out of here,” McKenna questioned. “I mean, we have a pretty good amount of stuff, but nothing that will get us out of a jail cell.”
“Oh, McKenna, I am nothing if not prepared,” Colin told her, drawing the Lesser Infernal Edge out from his Dimensional Bag and activating it. The Trench knife blade disappeared and summoned the glowing red sword made of infernal, light, and shadow magicks. McKenna seemed ready to comment on his choice of weapon, but he turned to the task at hand.
With a deft motion, he turned and cut through the top of the bars, cutting through three of the four bars cleanly and clattering against the fourth.
If that clattering noise was not enough, there was a crash down the hall. Wood was splintering, and angry men shouted their displeasure as they went across the hall. Their time was nearly up.
Colin reset his stance, aimed for the bottom of the bars, and swung. His swing sliced all four bars free of the window, allowing them to escape the cell.
McKenna moved to try and catch the bars before they hit the ground but was not fast enough. The bars clattered loudly, and a man’s voice, the Captain who had escorted them here, shouted in surprise. “What was that?! What are you doing?!”
None felt pressed to answer. Rielle was the first out the window, hurrying through with agility that would make all rogues proud. McKenna climbed out next, ensuring that none of her heavier clothes caught on the stubs of the bars.
Smiling, Colin disengaged and put away the Lesser Infernal Edge before taking out one last item. Another Miniature, one of the many he prepared before leaving the tunnels around GrimHold. He threw it onto the ground in the cell, the fragile figurine snapping upon impact with the ground.
The Chimeric creature was called Crystalline Shade, a mix of a Quartz Elemental found in the caverns and a lesser bestial demon called a Blasphemer Shade. The fusion of the two created something unique to behold. The Blasphemer Shade initially looked like a ten-legged creature made of black ink, shades of liquid red, and pastel, outlining its eyes, teeth, and claws. The Crystalline Shade took on a similar shape, the Quartz molded into that form, and the Blasphemer Shade filled its center.
It let out a chittering bark and tore through the bars, the sound of it reminding Colin of a car crash.
“If you make it out of here,” Colin told it, grabbing its attention momentarily. “Go to the forest, fight and kill the spirits and other monsters out there,” He ordered, giving the Crystalline Shade a stern look.
The sharp-toothed maw spread wide in a grin, and it nodded once to him.
Just as Colin turned away, the Captain turned the corner and shouted in surprise. The shout of surprise turned to one of pain as the Crystalline Shade struck and moved past him in a crystal rush against the rigid stone walls.
“Was that necessary?” Rielle asked with a grimace, coloring her expression into disapproval.
“We needed a distraction,” Colin answered. “With them busy with my monster, we are now free to explore or go meet up with that guy at the place across the way.”
“The Bored Boar,” Mckenna corrected.
“Yeah,” Colin agreed. “Or we could go straight to the palace and meet the prince? The Prince regent was sending men up to get us, and I would like to know why.” Colin told them seriously.
“I vote for that,” McKenna replied immediately. “I would love to find out why some royal prick wanted to lock us up upon arrival and without probable cause. When I discover why, I’m sure the legal system here would allow me to take their castle from them, brick by brick. One litigation at a time.”
Colin smirked, “Dear, you are letting your lawyer out to play.”
“Oh, I know. I hadn’t let her out in a while, so I had to let her talk. Especially since, you know, we were wrongfully imprisoned without cause,” she grumped.
Rielle stared at the two of them with confusion, almost not hearing the screams coming from the window they had climbed through. “Uh, what a lawyer?”
McKenna just looked at the young woman and blinked. “Wow, I’ll explain it on the way to the palace.” McKenna moved up next to Rielle, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and led her away from their escape route and onto the street. “We have a prince regent to meet and greet.”
Colin followed up next to them, enjoying seeing his wife’s humor come out. Like a lot of people, she behaved when she was comfortable. It was how he knew she was relaxed instead of the deranged woman she was when she first met him or when he was first taken away from her and got stuck in the game.
He also took a moment to enjoy seeing the city they now walked in. The wood and marble buildings were all a wonder in a world full of them. Creeping vines moved up the walls and added a significant charm since none of the creepers blocked any of the doorways and avoided covering windows. This must have been intentional, or the vines were cultivated for that Trait; none of the plants looked cut or pruned for that; they just curved around them.
Then there were the people; all were fey men and women, but all wore clothes of simple finery that Colin would not have seen from commoners anywhere else. While some had scuffs or rips, most were clean, crisp, and richly made. Almost all the clothes had gold or silver embroidery, and every person wore some Jewelry, magical or not. It was fascinating, especially how little ambient noise was hovering around the city. Commotion and conversations were happening around them, but they all seemed subdued compared to BriarThorn or GrimHold.
“Guys, I got a question,” Colin said, looking around. “Do we even know where we are going? I’m not seeing any castles or palaces.”
“Oh, good point,” McKenna stated. She took a moment to look around herself, then stopped a random fey man on the street. “Hello sir, we are looking for the castle, you know, where the prince and princess are staying. Can you point me in the right direction, please?” she asked, putting on her most ridiculous, sugary, sweet voice.
“Oh, sure. The Royal Pavilion is down that road attached to the Charred Ash Tree; you’ll know it when you see it; the tree sticks out,” he answered with a broad and embarrassed smile. “Why are you going there, Miss. We rarely see an elf looking for the Royal Pavilion in the city?”
“Oh, my husband and I are just passing through for the tourism. We wanna see all the sights in all the cities, right babe?” McKenna said in that same fake sweet voice.
Colin wanted to shake his head at the tone of voice but held it in, smiled, and nodded, “Oh yeah, but the Royal Pavilion is the only one we could not find. Thank you.”
A crash detonated through their part of the city like an explosion. Stone and metal shrieked as they broke, people screamed as they fled away, and every guard ran towards the screaming. It took Colin a moment to see that source, even though he knew what it was.
The Crystalline Shade loped around the building and stood tall amongst the city it was summoned into. Blood smeared the Quartz of its body, and a pale thigh hung between the creature’s teeth as it looked around with malicious glee in its gaze. Then it spotted Colin, the monster freezing as soon as it saw him. Colin would have been worried that someone would have noticed the stare, but luckily, people were more concerned with running than observing.
It stared at him, and Colin glared back at it angrily. It was supposed to go into the forest to fight monsters and gain levels. The Chimerology Subskill said that the monsters he made were supposed to listen to him to some degree unless he ordered them to do something contradictory to their nature. So, why wasn’t it going into the forest?
“Well, come on,” Rielle said in a sudden panic. “We should keep moving before they send guards to find us or ask why it is staring at us.”
The monster lifted a crimson-tinted claw to its eyes, flexed its quartz fingers, and let out a chittering howl. Then, giving Colin another look and a flash of its grinning maw, it turned away towards the forest. What was the point of that exercise, to show off its actions to its creator? Colin had no idea but became more curious about the thing flying towards his beast.
It moved fast, a loud cheer coming from the object as it hurled towards the Crystalline Shade with reckless abandon. I moved almost quicker than Colin could track and slammed into the side of his monster, driving it back a few steps and falling to the ground a moment later in a loud crash. The crash was the thing that attacked the Crystalline Shade, landing on the ground, the man rising to his feet.
The man wore heavy plate armor interspersed with plates of pitted black metal and shining chrome. A single shining silver chest plate covered his torse while other plates moved across it with every movement of his arms. Braces and pauldrons down to the soles of his sandals were overlayed with several layers of this varying metal, and no weapon adorned his body. Even without that, Colin could only wonder about a man like this.
“Fear not!” the man trumpeted, his voice prideful and full of vigor. “I, Sir Reagian Jackalore, head of the Crowns Guard, am here to drive away this suddenly manifesting beast!”
It took more than a bit of willpower to avoid telling the fey man off for attacking his monster, but he moved in to attack the Crystalline Shade again. He crouched down, a cyclone of rainbow light spinning around him and into Sir Reagian as he charged his action.
“Kinetic Cannonball!” the Crown’s Guardsman shouted, the gathered power launching him forward at high speed towards the Crystalline Shade.
The Guardsman slammed into the monster, and the sounds of fracturing glass reached their ears. The crystalline Shade fell back, large portions of its body falling free from its body, and black vapor fell from each broken piece. Most pieces fell to the ground with solid crashes, implying no others broke upon landing.
What remained of the crowd around them stopped and stared at the clash, the Fey cheering at their Guardsman’s apparent victory.
“Well, that’s too bad,” McKenna said with a disappointed sigh. “I liked this one; it was bloodthirsty, and I liked that in a monster.”
Colin raised a hand, “it’s not over yet; just give it a moment.”
Sir Reagian landed on the ground again with another crash, rising and lifting a hand to wave at the people cheering his victory.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
He froze at the electric tinkling sound that permeated the area louder than his applause. Turning, he found a chunk of the Quartz shattering further and rising from the ground in a floating heap of glittering crystal and black smoke. It moved back towards the main chunk of the Crystalline Share, reforming into the main piece.
“Wait, it didn’t die?” Rielle asked, “Why not?”
“Aspects from both creatures merged while I used chimerology on the two. The Quartz elemental can heal itself with similar minerals, and the Blasphemer Shade reforms if blasted apart with anything but holy damage. The two powers become a repair and splitting Trait. He would have to destroy the split pieces one at a time before they heal the main body.” Colin explained. “Look, it’s finally running to the forest.”
The Crystalline Shade had finally gotten the hint. It roared at Sir Reagian, its tone somehow more wrathful than moments earlier, then turned to the forest. It disappeared mere seconds later, the whole of its body bounding over the wall and disappearing in a few seconds.
Sir Reagian crowed at the beast’s defeat, sticking out his chest triumphantly. “You see that citizen?! While under the protection of the Crown Guard, no beast or spirit of the forest can harm you!”
A low murmur came out of the few people not in their homes for a moment before a cheer came upon them. More came out of the nearby buildings, and many joined the crowd in the apparent defeat of the monster. It was a mob mentality, just in reverse, with the people joining in the lauding of Sir Reagian for no reason other than everyone else doing it. And he had not even defeated it.
“Wow, your monsters are pretty cool,” Rielle stated, shivering. “I hope we never have to fight them.
“I hope not either, but I just wanted to see them grow. They gain levels and gain more abilities when they level up enough,” Colin told them. “At least, that is what my level seven Chimeriolgy skill told me.”
“Neat,” McKenna chirped. “But we should keep going, guys. We need to find the palace before they start looking for us. If we are lucky, they won’t blame us for this.”
Colin nodded, moving up next to the women. “You’re right,” he agreed happily.
McKenna took only a step before stopping. She looked at Colin, cocking her head for a moment before furrowing her eyebrows. “You know, you’ve been behaving oddly since we arrived here, at least since we allowed the guard to lock us up. Seriously, we could have taken them.”
Sensing that she knew why, Colin shrugged, “I don’t know about that. They were much stronger than us and had us outnumbered and surrounded. We may have been able to beat them, but where would we have been then? Now we can roam the city before they realize we aren’t dead.”
She narrowed her eyes, “you just wanted to use some of your new monsters, didn’t you?” she said suspiciously.
Smiling wickedly at her, he started walking down the street towards where the Royal pavilion was supposed to be. “Well, can you blame me? I shouldn’t pull them out for no good reason, so I… engineered one that allowed me to use two. Chimerology is a pretty cool skill. Hopefully, it allows me to beat the other candidates when I find them… eventually.”
McKenna paused, blinked a few times, then let out a bark of laughter. “You know, I forgot you were like this; you would always go out of your way to make up reasons to use your new or cool new equipment.”
“Wait, she was right,” Rielle said, surprised. “You were always so serious back in BriarThorn, I just thought that… well, you know, you.”
“Yeah, he can get super serious too,” McKenna agreed as they followed the main street, following the wide turn and avoiding the returning crowd as people shuffled back into their day and whatever they were doing moments ago. “I remember this one time when a friend of yours-”
“No,” Colin snapped. His face went from cheerful and happy in one moment to severe and upset in the next. His teeth were clenched, lips curled, nostrils flared, and eyebrows furrowed down in rage. “No, we don’t talk about Raul.”
McKenna went quiet for several seconds, the instant rage subsiding over a few seconds as Colin breathed. “
“Sorry, honey,” Colin apologized. “I still would rather never talk about that again.”
Nodding, McKenna looked ahead of them as they finally found the Royal Pavilion.
The road curved ahead before going straight towards the building. On either side of the road, shop stalls were set up like a farmers market or a bazaar. People were selling their wares, from food to books and Jewelry to weapons. Colin considered pausing long enough to browse, and both women seemed interested in the gold and jewels. Further down the road sat the Royal Pavilion, a large marble building built into an even larger tree.
Unlike what McKenna had described for the elf city she started in, this was inside the tree, not on it. It looked like someone had started with a castle from somewhere in medieval England or Scotland and then planted a supertree somewhere on the property. A thousand years later, they had the kind of tree people wrote origin myths about. The entire structure glimmered in the sun, lines of bright green and pale yellow reflecting off the midday sun. At the top of the structure, a large brazier made of rough glass burned with neon green and purple flames.
“Wow, now that is a fantasy castle,” McKenna waved her hand at the Pavilion.
Colin nodded, his view tainted by the memories brought to the forefront by McKenna. He specifically hated betrayal for many reasons and did not let the one that got him stuck in this game go. The one that Raol was involved in was one of the worst ones, involving the death of several people, including a different friend within their ranks. Colin could feel the pressure on his finger as he pulled the trigger that killed him in the end.
Looking at the Royal Pavilion, Colin could not see this as where they would have to infiltrate.
“Walker?” Rielle said, her tone worried. “What’s wrong? You seem a little… upset.”
“I’m fine,” Colin answered gruffly.
“Oh, I can tell you’re not,” a familiar gravelly voice said.
Colin turned to find the dark-skinned and bearded Stranger standing just behind them, keeping pace as they walked into the outdoor market. He kept pace with them as they passed delicious-smelling food stalls and jewelry-laden carts. Rielle jumped at his sudden appearance, drawing a malicious-looking knife and readying herself to thrust at him.
“Calm yourself,” the man said, surrendering his arms. “My area of expertise is not in combat; it is severely against it. If you stab me hard enough, I’ll die.”
“If you fear getting stabbed, maybe you should not have startled the three armed people coming through town,” McKenna told him, stopping to look over the man. “Besides, aren’t you a little conspicuous to be trying to do anything unarmed?”
The Stranger smiled. “You know, I had not thought about it,” he chuckled, lowering his arms. My attempt to not stand out might have just made me stand out more. A problem for later; I am on the job,” he said, speaking more to himself than them.
“On what job?” Colin asked suspiciously. He put a hand on the extended dagger and lowered it a little, nodding at Rielle in a silent order to put it away. She complied, but a little more begrudgingly than he expected. “If it involves us, then you might want to talk a step back if you are allergic to steel.”
The joy never left his face, “oh no, It does, but not in a threatening way. I nor my employer have any reason nor want to harm you. If what you told me earlier was true, then you will want to hear me out. Please,” he gestured to a marble building past many of the carts and stalls. It had an image of a man wearing a treasure chest on his head, flexing his bare chest and arms and flexing them dramatically. Next to the image, the sign reads ‘The Chestiest Mimic,’ and the place looks like an average enough bar or tavern. “May I buy you a drink or a meal to explain? I promise that this will be worth the time.”
Colin looked at McKenna and Rielle, then turned back to the Stranger. “Can we get a moment?”
Nodding, the man took a step away. “Please be my guest. If you do not run away, I will give you whatever privacy you wish.”
Walking ten feet away towards the nearest stall, Colin looked down at the various sundries on offer and asked, “I don’t think this is a good idea. We should go off on our own and do this ourselves. It’ll likely just be another quest.”
“And,” McKenna stated, picking up a turquoise blouse and feeling the fabric. She smiled as she continued, “Quests are the epitome of RPGs. They are how we get the best loot, get to secret locations, get unique stories, and even gain lots of experience quickly.”
“But how did he find us that quickly after we entered the city?” Rielle asked. “How did he even know we were in the city, for that matter? I do not trust this city; I do not trust him or his employer; something about this doesn’t seem right,” she said tentatively. Her gaze flitted to every Fey person who passed or took notice of them; her fists clenched tight and near her blade.
She looked back at the Stranger and frowned, “I have seen Fey like him before. I don’t know what is happening, but I don’t like this.”
McKenna nodded, “yeah, that’s weird.” She agreed, looking back at the man, but may I point out that there is a simple way to know how he knew we were here and how he is following us.” She pointed out, turning to look at the Stranger who was just standing there, smiling like a fool and purposefully looking anywhere but at them.
The woman walked away from Colin and Rielle, up to him with her hands on her waist, and directly asked him. “How did your employer know we were in the city? How did you know where to find us? And why did you want us specifically? We cannot go anywhere without knowing that, Buster!”
Colin could not help but break his angst and focus; his smile was wide as he looked over his wife with renewed appreciation. “Buster? Really?”
She half turned to look at Colin and told him, “Yes, I wanted to say, Buster; I wanted to join the long line of upset women who express themselves using such stupid phrases. The only difference is that I can back up anything I say without using my strong arm. That’s you, dear,” she smirked.
“Damn it,” Colin chuckled, confirming that this was her plan. She knew what he was like when he got moody, so she took the first chance to break it and succeeded.
She then turned fully back to the Stranger and stared at him. “Now talk, or we walk.”
The Stranger was stunned by her attitude for a few seconds, long enough for her to add something right as he was about to start talking. “Also, what is your name? We will not work with or for nameless people.”
The edge of his smile twitched as he seemed to war in himself. Colin did not know the man, but he seemed to have a problem with something McKenna had just said, likely the name part.
“I go… by Eiphan,” the man said with a heavy breath. “As for your other questions, I can’t answer them all; I was told to keep it a surprise,” he was about to continue but paused and said very specifically, “They want to keep their identity a surprise for later today. They knew you entered the city due to a prompt they received due to an incident with you a few months ago. As for what… they want,” she carefully stated, almost slipping on the gender. “They want to help you.”
“Why?”
“I do not know, Walker,” Eiphan shook his head. “The only thing I was told to do… was this.”
The Fey man paused, taking a deep breath that seemed a little regretful and annoyed. When he let it out, he said, “I swear to you, DevilWalker, that neither I nor my employer have any ill intent towards you, only good. As long as you dare not harm me nor my employer, none shall be dealt to you in kind.”
Eiphan has sworn their word of safety to you. To a member of the Fey, promises and oaths are magically binding.
Colin considered still walking away and leaving this man to his business, but why would he go this far? He had seen several Fey make promises to him, and all were held up faithfully, even Lady Noitra, who did not want to uphold them. He had never seen anyone break one of these promises before and with good reason. The one account I had read about of a Fey breaking their word was rather gruesome. He was stating that their magic inverted on their body, not quite exploding, but liquidizing all the solids in their body and solidifying the liquid parts.
None of the few other reports said the same thing, so it was likely individualized from case to case.
Either way, if this fey man was making any promise, he was sure about what he was doing. Either that or he had no choice but to make this promise to get them to comply with his employer’s wishes.
“Please, come with me,” Eiphan insisted. “I promise all will become clear quickly once we begin talking.”
Every instinct he had conflicted with this moment, and Rielle seemed to agree. Even after his sworn oath, she just glared at him hatefully enough that he thought the heavenly blight was going to cause him to burst into flames. On the other hand, McKenna looked excited about this potential quest.
Eiphan must have seen Colin’s reluctance to trust him because he needed to add more. “Look, this is not some trick or deception. I have no ulterior motive, DevilWalker. Uh, what if I… told you that my employer is someone who knew you when you were still classless,” the man stated. His eyes shone a sliver as he smiled and said, “Not the case anymore, I see.”
Now Colin narrowed his eyes at the man, glaring at him with ill intention. The Ability, Eyes of Deception, should have protected his actual status, which stated he was an Antagonist and a Demon Lord Candidate from view. He would likely have been outed a while ago if not for this last parting gift from the previous Demon Lord Ari.
“So, tell me then,” Colin stepped closer and readied himself. “Do you have a problem with my Class?”
“With a Rogue Mage Combination? No, not at all. Why should I?” the man asked. “I mean, you have a wide range of abilities and skills. It’s rather eclectic but not unheard of.”
Colin relaxed a little and gave in to his curiosity. He wanted to know who this person who claimed to know him from when he first entered Rosengard was and how they knew he was here. He quickly justified his curiosity by mentally telling himself that he needed to find out if others could track him like this or if it was only this person.
Letting out a sigh, Colin said, “Alright, you win, Eiphan. Let’s go eat, and then you can tell me what is going on that would require such secrecy.”
“Gladly.”