After leaving the Secret, Kallad morphed into a raven. He flew above the city. The view from up here was always so very beautiful. Unbeknownst to many of Aurum’s citizens, the city was actually so large and spanned such a breadth of land, that one would find it difficult to even see Zenith’s natural horizon past the city’s buildings..

Cool winds brushed against Kallad’s beak, offering him a strangely cold sensation that wasn’t exactly comfortable or uncomfortable.

The market district is the vast majority of the city, and spans multiple large areas... maybe he’ll be there. I’ll take a look.

Kallad flew down towards the market district. He figured that the best place to check would be the Dwarves’ quarter. The Tinkerer heads the Creation clan so I might be able to find him around there.

As he flew closer, smells of iron and steel wafted through the air. They reminded him of home.

Kallad missed the smell of burning coals and liquid lava. The smells in the Dwarves’ quarter were much like the smells one would fine naturally in the Underworld. It was only because of his kids, and the summit, that he was still in Aurum. If it was up to him, Kallad would’ve gone back home in a heartbeat.

Clangs of steel against steel rung through the air and resonated with each other. It was a truly wonderful sound that the people below wouldn’t get to experience as Kallad could.

He landed, perched atop a small stall’s sign.

The gnome at the front of the stall called out to any who would listen, “Ladies and gentlemen! Come to Glizz’s Gizmos and Gadgets! Take a look to see if anything might catch your eye! I guarantee there’s something for everyone here!”

Here and there, some people would come to the stall and check for any goods that might interest them. For the most part, Glizz didn’t make many sales while Kallad loitered on his stall’s sign.

Kallad figured that he wouldn’t find much here. He flew further into the quarter. The Tinkerer was rumoured to have set up a workshop in this quarter, but I see no sign of it. He continued flying in search of it.

Something caught his eye.

A hooded figure amongst a sea of haired or bald individuals. Well, if they wanted to blend in... they’ve done an awful job of it.

Kallad had ample time to find the Tinkerer, so he allowed himself this detour. He tailed the hooded individual.

The Dwarven quarter wasn’t exactly full of wide, open roads. It was tight, winding, and stuffy. The goods on sale were often weapons, armours, and anything that a gnome or a dwarf could create in between. Following this hooded individual as a raven was a smart idea. Kallad mentally patted himself on the back.

The person that Kallad was tailing went even further into the quarter. They’re not stopping at any shops, or talking to anyone. Are they dropping off a message somewhere?

After a few more minutes of tailing, something changed.

There were now two hooded individuals walking beside each other. The new one was slightly taller than the first one.

The two of them walked onwards, but they soon began to circle a specific area. Almost like they were doing a perimeter check. What kind of... Wait... where are they going now?

Into a building, the both of them walked. Kallad noticed the absolute state of the building. It was decrepit. Practically falling apart. A sore thumb sticking out amongst the rows of beautifully crafted shops and stalls along the roads of the quarter. Eh? Where’d that come from... I could’ve sworn that it wasn’t there a minute ago.

The door was closing.

Kallad flew quickly through the door before it shut behind the two hooded figures. Hopefully no one saw me. He had no way of being sure.

Regardless, Kallad hid in the shadows, since he was at least certain of the fact that the two people he was following had no idea he was tailing them.

They stopped in the dusty hallway of the rickety old building. The flooring was so old that the wooden panels were mostly rotten and filthy.

Kallad waited for something to change.

One of them spoke. It was a man’s voice, “What do you think its response will be?”

The shorter one replied in a female’s voice, “I know that the Voice has called for its obedience... but this one never listens to orders. It only ever does what its creative instincts tell it to do.”

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“If it listened to the Voice, then maybe it wouldn’t lose out on so much business. Maybe its clan wouldn’t be so disconnected from the rest.” The man started cackling.

Kallad placed miniscule arcane markers on both of their outfits as a spider.

He then morphed into a rat and scurried along the floor.

The woman squealed as he ran past her.

“Disgusting! Hurry, we’ll deliver the message and leave this disgusting place immediately.”

“For once, that’s a good idea.”

Kallad only did that so he could see their faces. Unfortunately, they wore full-faced, blank, white masks. Well at least they’ve got that part down.

The floor creaked as they walked into a big, open room. “Where was it...” The man said.

The woman walked over to the middle of the room and pointed at the flooring.

“For someone who’s supposed to be my senior, you’re awfully dim-witted at times.”

The man slowly walked over and pulled a knife out of his spatial storage. He turned her around roughly and gripped her mouth through the cloth-like mask. She moaned in pain.

He put the knife up to her mouth, “I should kill you here for insubordination! Be grateful that the Voice likes you, insufferable wench.” He threw her to the side, sending her flying into a pile of boxes with a strength that Kallad didn’t expect. She groaned in immense pain, but stood back up and made her way back to her supposed ‘senior’.

Kallad felt bad for the woman, but since he didn’t know much about the two of them yet, he reserved most of his judgement. Upon examining the knife from afar, Kallad’s view began to change.

It’s as beautiful as it is deadly. White-gold metal. Multiple magical gems embedded within it, and a distinctly elven-like design. It’s very similar to the weapons commonly used amongst the Arbiter’s agents. He had also already realised why the two of them were here, given that they were the Arbiter’s agents, and they mentioned the Arbiter’s alternate name, the Voice. They were here to strong-arm the Tinkerer.

Kallad wanted to laugh so very much. It was going to be hilarious to see weaklings like these two try and convince that psychopath to do anything.

The man stomped on the ground. It caused an arcane circle to appear within the room.

He chanted the incantation.

Revelare Ostium!

A set of stone stairs circling the room appeared within the arcane circle. It led downwards into a surprisingly well-lit area.

Kallad tailed the two individuals silently as the rodent he’d become.

After a while of going down these stairs, the wall to the left of them disappeared.

It opened up into a vast, open chamber.

Within the chamber, there was just about everything that a member of the Creation clan could possibly need or want to fuel their creative desires. They could live here for their whole lives and create to their hearts’ content.

Drilling sounds echoed in the chamber. They came from the room leading right from the bottom of the stairs. The two individuals walked into that room.

A bright and cheery voice came from within.

“Will you hand me that wrench?”

Kallad didn’t quite expect that. Not exactly the words you’d typically hear with that kind of tone.

He circled the corner, and found a wonderful scene. Well, I’m glad that he’s got a little hiding spot here, but I’m somewhat offended that he didn’t tell me about it.

The hooded figures were in the Tinkerer’s personal workshop.

The male agent stepped forward.

“I do believe I asked for that wrench!” The little gnome somehow sounded both irritated and joyful at the same time.

The man under the hood laughed. It echoed throughout the room and the prior chamber. “We’re not here to help you! We’re here to deliver a mess-” Splat!

The Tinkerer sighed.

The man’s blood, brain matter, and shattered pieces of his skull spurted way out from the room. His head was crushed by two piston hammers that slammed into each other. They retracted back into the ceiling, leaving the man’s decapitated body to slump to the floor. His blood continued to spurt out from the hole in his neck, until his heartbeat slowed and eventually stopped.

The woman stepped forward in his place and kneeled before the Tinkerer.

“Forgive our intrusion. The Voice sends a message. He calls for your vote in the upcoming summit. Or... or your clan will face his fury.”

The Tinkerer continued happily drilling away.

“Is that all? In fact, don’t answer that. Just hand me that wrench and you can leave with your life. Also, clean all this up, will you?” He pointed to the two eyeballs that had somehow made their way onto his workbench.

“Yes, of course.” The lone remaining agent bowed deeply.

She got up and walked over her dead colleague, and handed the Tinkerer the wrench he was asking for. She also silently casted a spell that cleared the remnants of her colleague’s head from the room by grouping it all together in a bundle of gory mush. She incinerated it. After placing her colleague’s body, blood, and ashes in her spatial storage, she bowed to the Tinkerer and quietly left.

The Tinkerer continued working on his project.

Kallad waited.

The Tinkerer grabbed a container of oil from his workbench and drank it all. Kallad heard the sounds of gears turning in his little gnomish body as he let out a satisfied sigh.

It took a few minutes.

“You can come out now, Deceiver. She’s left the premises.”

Kallad morphed into his regular self. He smiled at the Tinkerer, “King of the mechanised. The unnamed. Tinkerer. It’s good to see you.”

The Tinkerer turned around, revealing his partially mechanised body. His torso, and left arm and leg were completely mechanised. As opposed to two eyes, there were two gems in their sockets. The bald gnome smiled at the red haired Raven.

“You took a while to find me.”

Kallad rubbed his head as he leaned against the doorway. “In all fairness, I was following those two before I was to go and look for you.”

The Tinkerer laughed, causing the clinking sound of his gears colliding to come from his small body. “Good, good. I would’ve killed you if you genuinely took this long to find me. Hehe.” He giggled in a way that sounded just a little threatening.

“The Deceiver would never take this long for such a trivial thing.” I totally would’ve taken even longer to find him if not for those two... but he doesn’t need to know that.

The Tinkerer shifted gears.

“What are you here for, Deceiver?”

“Well...” Kallad sighed, “We have a lot to talk about.”