Nyxpera
The 19th of Thargelion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
Midnight came and went as Arche and Tess ran through Ship’s Shape. Their plan was simple, for all that could go wrong with it. Tess would stall the Hekatonkheires while Arche tried to find Basil’s family. With luck, they would be nearby. Without luck, well, neither of them wanted to dwell on that.
The storm broke as they entered the Mizzenmast Docks. Heavy rainfall soaked through their armor and muffled their footsteps, driving all passersby home. Tess hesitated before walking onto the vast array of interconnected boardwalks that comprised the majority of the docks.
“Arche, whatever happens out there, whatever you hear,” she faltered, seeming to not know quite what to say. She shook her head. “Find Basil’s family.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” His sense of unease rose, but whether it was the situation or being near her, he couldn’t tell. “Take care.”
“You, too.”
They walked out onto the docks. Tess led the way, seeming to know which direction the Hekatonkheires would be waiting for them. Covered lanterns lit the walkways in a soft, yellow glow; ghost-lights in the storm. They gave the docks an ethereal feeling, like they were walking into another world.
It occurred to Arche that he was in another world. He hadn’t quite processed all of Alex’s memories, but enough was clear. He had lived, he had died, and now he lived again. Technically speaking, he had died twice. New context framed every strange meeting, every impossible encounter.
One thing was crystal clear: he was in Tartarus because of Ares, the God of War, and they were destined to fight.
The realization shot cold through his bones, deeper than any rain or moisture could hope to reach. He didn’t fear the Hekatonkheires, not anymore. Not since he regained his eyesight and his ability to use Mana. But the God of War was an entirely different scale. He had brought Ares’s wrath down on the entire village. None of them knew what they were agreeing to, many hadn’t agreed at all. Something had to be done. He wouldn’t be the cause of so much death again.
But nothing could be done at that moment. He was a month’s journey from Myriatos. All he could hope for was that it would take time for Ares to put his plans into motion. Time that they could spend to get stronger. Time to prepare. Time to plan.
Arche looked up, letting the raindrops splatter against his face, drawing him back into the moment. Water crashed against the dock posts and covered them in spray, depositing sea salt into their clothes and hair.
“I see one.” Tess’s voice was low, barely a whisper above the storm.
“There’s no point pretending we don’t know why we’re here,” Arche said. “They took Basil’s family to get a response.”
Tess didn’t answer immediately but she continued walking toward a lone figure waiting in the shadows between two lanterns along the dock’s waterside. Arche took a breath and cast his awareness outward, feeling the negative space between minds. As he did, he was almost shocked by the level of clarity that returned to him.
Without looking at her, he could pinpoint Tess’s exact position next to him, down to the swing of her arms and shifting of her feet. The awareness rippled outward and he became aware of the man a dozen yards in front of them, could sense the foot tapping with barely contained patience, the fingers twiddling with the handle of a knife. More than that, he felt the presence of half a dozen of the thieves among loading supplies, ready to surround them at a moment’s notice. Beyond them, the quality of detail dropped sharply.
“Six more, hidden around us. If this goes to a fight, we’re hit on every side,” he muttered.
As each of their locations entered his mind, a notification appeared.
You have learned a Skill.
Psychic Sight — Level 1
Gone are the days that you need your eyes to see. Where others see only clouds, you will never fail to find the stars.
Using your inherent Psychic abilities, you are able to detect the presence of people and things in your vicinity. Each level in this skill improves the distance and clarity of your sight.
This is a subskill of Psychic Link.
Every 5 levels in this skill increases your Willpower and Charisma by 1.
+3 Meters of Sight (+3)
+2% Clarity of Sight (+2%)
Current Distance: 33 Meters
Arche grunted in surprise. All that time trying to train his bruised psychic awareness in the woods had apparently counted for something. The reparation of his Mana pathways must have been the final push to codify that work into a skill. It became much easier to concentrate on the net of awareness around him. He was even able to get dull feedback on the rain, docks, and water. It wasn’t as sharp or clear as the people in the area but he could sense faint outlines.
Arche focused on the one in front of him and used Examine.
Amphios Eliades
Level: 33
Race: Half-Elf
Age: ?
Height: ?
Weight: ?
Profession: ?
Trade: ?
Traits: ?
Companions: ?
Adventuring Party: ?
Health: 860 / 860
100%
Stamina: 635 / 635
100%
Mana: 500 / 500
100%
“It’s the Fifth Hand,” Arche said. “Amphios.”
He dismissed a follow-up notification telling him his Examine skill reached Level Seven. Beside him, Tess stiffened. They stopped twenty steps away. Close enough to talk, even with the rain, but far enough to keep things civil.
“Any sign of Basil’s family?” Tess whispered, her voice barely audible.
“Not yet.” Of all the minds he brushed against, none of them expressed fear or felt similar to Basil.
Ahead of them, Amphios gave them a slow, sarcastic clap.
“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up. I expected you an hour ago. I thought, perhaps, you didn’t care as much for your friends as I initially judged.”
Arche said nothing, the bulk of his focus on searching for any sign of Basil’s mother and sister.
“Where’s the woman and the girl?” Tess demanded.
“Quite safe, I assure you. I told them they had until dawn’s first light for you to show up. Lucky for you, a storm blew in. Still, I was getting rather impatient.”
“I’m here now.” Anger bled into her voice. “What more do you want with me, Amphios? What is there left for you to take?”
“Take?” Amphios laughed. “Oh, how hindsight colors all. You begged us for admission, don’t you recall?”
Arche frowned, but mostly ignored the comment. There was movement around the edge of his awareness. Somewhere off to his left, toward the city. He also had to keep an eye on his Mana. Psychic Sight was a relatively Mana-intensive activity and his Mana stores had already dropped ten percent.
“A poor girl, running from her father and a life she didn’t want. Straight into trouble.”
“I was a child. I sought escape, not another leash.”
Arche had never heard Tess like this, not even during their fight. Her voice trembled with rage, pain, and fear.
“You made the bindings. You swore the Oaths and forsook them,” Amphios shouted, his own anger unconcealed.
Lightning flashed, making everything look ethereal for a moment before plunging them back into near darkness. Amphios brandished something above his head. For a moment, Arche thought it was a blade, but his Psychic Sight revealed something small and circular.
A ring.
“But all can be forgiven,” Amphios said, his tone forcibly calm. “Nothing has been broken that cannot be reforged. Come back to me, wife, and reclaim your place by my side.”
Arche’s Psychic Sight snapped back to the limits of his own mind. He looked sideways at her, hoping for some indication that Amphios was insane, but he saw the truth written on her face. Her mouth hung open and her chest heaved like she couldn’t catch her breath. Her eyes were wide and wild. Terror and rage stamped in equal measure across her features.
“Come back.”
The words had the magical whisper of command. Tess’s whole body tensed like the bend of a taut bow, ready to strike. Then she took a single step forward. Arche caught her by the hand, holding her back. He’d moved before he’d really processed what was going on, but feeling her skin beneath his, cold and slick from the rain, everything fell into place.
Amphios had a mental manipulation ability. That was why she’d run to a start-up village on the frontier, why she had been so back-and-forth with Arche after learning of his Psychic ability and their mind-meld. That was why, even still, she held back.
When they’d connected their minds, he’d seen her life play out before him. Her time with the Hekatonkheires had been shiny. He’d thought that was because she enjoyed it, but that hadn’t been it at all. The memories were altered, manipulated, either by the man in front of them or by her own meddling.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Tess looked back at him, her eyes still wide and wild, boring into him with a plea that went deeper than words. It was in that moment, swept by wind and soaked by rain as the storm howled around them, that the cruel, taunting version of Tess washed out of existence.
She wasn’t a cruel seductress playing with his heart; she was a survivor, doing whatever it took to be free from a fate he couldn’t begin to imagine.
“Come back.”
She pulled against him, turning back toward Amphios as she tried to break his grip. Arche held on tighter, trying to think of what to do.
“Look at me,” he said, his voice low and reassuring. “Look at me.”
The muscles in her neck tensed and strained, but she did.
“You’re all right. I’m here.”
“Ar…che…” His name slipped from her gritted teeth and he took her wrist in both hands.
“Leave him!”
“I’m right here. You’re stronger than him. His power is all gimmick. You can break free; I know you can.”
Tess shut her eyes. Her face twisted with pain.
“Obey!”
A line of blood dribbled from Tess’s nose but when she opened her eyes, they were clear and focused. She squeezed his hand.
“Thank you.”
“I will kill them both!”
Arche glanced back at Amphios and saw he was no longer alone. He held a girl—no older than fifteen—by the hair, a knife pressed to her throat. Next to him, another Hekatonkheires had appeared, holding a woman the spitting image of Basil, if older.
“Shit. Any ideas?”
“Can you invade his mind?” Tess asked.
“Too long. They’d die.”
“Time for Plan Delta.”
“Plan D? What the fuck were B and C?”
Tess ignored him, raising her voice for Amphios.
“Release them and I will come to you.”
Amphios’s smile was practically manic.
“Come to me and I will release them, dearest.”
Tess gave a final squeeze of Arche’s hand, then took ten steps forward, closing half the distance between them.
“There,” she said. “Release them now or lose me forever.”
Amphios let go of the girl and shoved her forward, nicking her neck slightly as she fell past the knife. The girl cried out and scrabbled forward on her hands and knees. Arche could see Tess’s hands clench but she made no move to help the crawling girl as she passed.
“Half the prize for half the distance,” Amphios said.
Arche knelt down as the girl came to him.
“It’s okay, we’re friends of your brother. You’re safe now.”
“B-Basil? He’s alive?”
“Yes. Don’t worry.”
He put one hand on the side of her neck and cast Minor Heal. Within moments, the skin knit itself back together, only a thin silver line revealing she’d ever been cut.
“Get behind me and stay low,” he said. “You’re doing great.”
The girl did as he instructed as he turned his attention back to the situation in front of him. Tess walked toward Amphios again. Each step slow and torturous.
“There’s a good girl,” Amphios said, the sinister smile back on his face.
He held Tess’s jaw between thumb and forefinger and made a show of turning her face left and right, as though she were a prized animal of which he was checking the quality. Arche itched to break those fingers. Amphios said something but it was too quiet for Arche to hear across the distance and the storm. Mana crackled in the air.
The thug next to Amphios released Basil’s mother. She ran forward, crying out in a wordless shout of fear and worry. Something metal glinted in the thug’s hand, reflecting the light from a nearby lantern.
“No!” Arche shouted, reaching out as though he could somehow close the distance between them.
Before Basil’s mother had made it a dozen steps, a knife planted itself between her shoulder blades with a sickening thud. She stumbled and fell, blood staining her clothes red. Behind Arche, Basil’s sister screamed. Lightning flashed overhead and thunder crackled in the same moment. Arche raised the Tridory to the sky and the lightning responded, arcing down into the spear. Arche felt the energy course into him.
Innervated
+50% Reaction Time
+15% Movement Speed
+25% Lightning Resistance
+100% Stamina Regeneration
Innervated: 9:58
The lightning sparked off him, sizzling in the rain. He sprang forward, clearing the distance between him and the woman in a single bound. In one clean motion, he threw the spear. It sped off like a screaming arrow, punching a hole straight through the thug’s chest and frying him from the inside out. He’d imbued half of the lightning energy into the attack, an impossible feat before learning Mana Manipulation, and was left with five minutes of innervation. Arche knelt and placed his hands around the knife wound, channeling Minor Heal.
Mana poured out of him but it was of little help. The placement had nicked the woman’s heart and her body was struggling to pump blood. His spell was helping a little, trickling Health into her, but her heart couldn’t heal while the knife was still in her. Praying it wouldn’t kill her, Arche pulled the blade free, channeling his spell the entire time.
The woman didn’t react at all, which scared him more than if she had screamed. She was already unconscious, sliding toward death. Arche tried to focus his spell on her heart, using every bit of control he’d learned, but there wasn’t much he could do. The spell wasn’t meant to heal internal damage. Arche pushed past his self-imposed limit of sixty Mana, letting the spell drop when he hit fifteen, a mere four percent of his total. His head throbbed in pain, but he hadn’t damaged his Mana pathways. It would have to be enough; he couldn’t do anything else for her.
Arche stood and brought his forearm next to his face. A knife glanced off the vambrace, unable to bite through the hardened mantikhoras hide. The improved reaction time had just saved his life. Unfortunately, the innervated effect did nothing to regenerate his Mana, so he was left to deal with the threat physically.
Three Hekatonkheires stood, pulling out crossbows and aiming at him. Arche managed to retrieve his shield from his inventory just in time. Three bolts thudded into the barrier, their heads punching through the metal but failing to advance farther. Arche summoned the Revenant Rib Kopis into his free hand and ran toward the nearest thief. The thug backstepped, armed with only a pair of daggers.
“You’re supposed to be blind!” the thief protested.
Arche bashed his shield into the thief’s face, snapping the bolts in the process. The man fell to the ground, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. A single stab to the chest put him out of the fight permanently.
It was the second person Arche had killed in as many minutes – but all he felt was a terrible sense of familiarity and ease.
Two more bolts thudded into his shield, raised just in time to protect his face. The third bolt nicked his leg just above the knee, where the armor didn’t quite cover. Arche grit his teeth. The damage was minimal but it wasn’t the only concern.
Poisoned
-8% Reaction Time
-4% Movement Speed
4 Health Lost per 5 Seconds
Poisoned: 4:58
Two more thieves armed with shortswords and small shields engaged him before he could close on the crossbowmen. They had clearly practiced fighting in tandem, attacking from different directions and covering each other’s openings. Arche was put on the defensive under the combined assault as they pushed him back. The poison ate away at his speed, counteracted by his lightning buff, but the loss in Health still threatened to be extensive if he let it go too long.
Arche punched out with the shield, trying to catch one of the attackers off balance, but the thief stepped back out of reach. As he did, three more bolts hit Arche’s shield, the last one nearly slipping beneath it. It wouldn’t be able to withstand much more abuse. Slipping his hand from the shield strap, he threw it at one of the sword thieves. They stumbled back, taken off-guard, and Arche focused his attention on the other. He feinted a thrust, goading the thief into defense. It worked. Arche planted his boot on the thief’s shield and launched him off the dock and into the churning water below.
The other thief recovered and came in swinging. Arche caught the swing on his own blade, then stepped sideways and kicked at the thief’s leg. He caught the inside of the thief’s ankle, forcing their stance wide, then dropped his shoulder into their shield, knocking them against a crate. A quick slash opened up the thief’s belly, nearly slicing them in half. He left the man trying to stuff his innards back where they came from and turned to the crossbowmen.
His hand jerked of its own accord, rising toward his face. Something hit his shoulder and another skittered off his ribs as it punched a hole through his armor. His hand held a bolt that would have killed him. As it was, his Health dropped down to sixty percent and the poisoned debuff became a lot more potent.
Poisoned
-16% Reaction Time
-8% Movement Speed
8 Health Loss per 5 Seconds
Poisoned: 8:47
Arche let out a pained breath and ducked behind the crate. He stored the sword and tried to think. His Mana had only regenerated about twenty points but it would have to be enough. He focused on his connection to the Tridory and summoned it to his hand. The spear dug itself out of the dock and flew to him. Even with the buff, he wasn’t faster than three crossbow bolts. What he really needed was a way to take them out from a distance or close it before they could strike him.
His attention turned to the body lying on the crate next to him. He grabbed a handful of the dead thief’s breastplate and heaved it to the side. Two bolts sank into the body before it hit the dock. It would have to be good enough. Arche rolled from behind the cover and launched the Tridory at the closest thief.
A bolt slammed into his hip, eliciting a snarl of pain, but he was rewarded by the sight of the Tridory catching the offending Hekatonkheires in the face, practically tearing the man’s head off. Arche stood, drawing his bow and two arrows out of his inventory. The bolt tip scraped against his hip bone as he stood. His shoulder screamed in protest as he drew the bow back and shot the first arrow. It hit the thief center-mass and they crumpled to the ground. The last thief, seeing they were alone, dropped the half-wound crossbow and ran. Arche pulled the bow taut again, sighting down at the fleeing thief. His breath came in short bursts and his vision was getting blurry. A thought crossed his mind, did he really want to be the kind of man who shot someone in the back? He started to relieve the tension in the bow, then thought of what they’d done to Tess.
His arrow sank into the back of the thief’s head.
Arche put away his bow and turned to the women. Basil’s sister crouched protectively over her mother, hands clamped against the wound to staunch the bleeding. Tess and Amphios stood like statues, staring at one another and seemingly oblivious to all that was happening. His hand still held her face, his mouth barely moving, the words lost amid the storm. Arche limped toward them, summoning the Tridory back to his hand. The fury in his heart almost drowned the pain. Amphios lifted his other hand and stroked Tess’s face, brushing a strand of soaked hair out of her eyes. His words became audible over the rain.
“I knew you would be mine. The fire in you burned so bright – but there is no fire that cannot be wielded.”
Tess said nothing, only stared.
“I did not fret when you left. I knew you would return. This was a passing fancy, a dalliance. I understand. You needed change. But you are back now and that is all that matters. You are mine, again.”
The words carried the weight of magical command but still Tess didn’t move. Arche limped closer, using the Tridory to support his injured leg.
“Tess! Snap out of it!”
Amphios leveled his gaze at Arche at last.
“If it isn’t the blind warrior. Recovered, I see. It’s too late. Theresa is mine. Leave with your life and what’s left of them.”
Arche staggered forward, ignoring Amphios entirely. He had eyes only for Tess.
Amphios sighed.
“Leave!”
Arche felt the command down to the marrow of his bones. He wanted to follow it, to leave this wretched place and find somewhere warm and dry to curl up and recover. He almost obeyed, but the sight of Tess standing there with Amphios’s fingers still cupping her chin drove him onward.
“So meddlesome,” Amphios growled. “Fine. Darling, kill him.”
Tess pulled a knife from her belt and half-turned toward Arche. She was fast, faster than him by a large margin. She lashed out, blades blurring in her hands. Without a shield, he was forced to rely on his vambraces to stop her questing strikes, and even then it was close. The lightning no longer coursed in his veins and he could feel every painful throb of his heart pushing poison further along his system.
Her technical brilliance was undeniable. Her blade found every unprotected inch of flesh, took advantage of every error. In moments, Arche’s arms were little more than a bloodied mess, barely holding the strength to stay raised. She forced him back against a railing, bearing down on him until he couldn’t defend himself anymore.
Arche looked up at her, the rain almost blinding, and met her eye.
“It’s all right,” he said, his voice hoarse. “It’s all right, Tess. I’m here.”
Her knife plunged forward. It tore through the mantikhoras hide and stuck halfway into his chest, sliding between his ribs. Arche gasped, but air was beyond his grasp. Tess’s eyes were close to his now, glassy and dull. His Health plummeted at a frightening pace, excerbated by the poison in his system.
“Do what you have to, Tess. It’s all right.”
“Kill him!” Amphios shrieked.
“Of course.” Tess’s voice was flat, almost mechanical. A trickle of blood seeped from her left nostril. “This is what you deserve.”
Arche closed his eyes and waited for Thanatos to deliver him. It was a fate befitting a monster. It was only right he would die at the hands of a friend.
The blade ripped free from his chest and he gasped, air available at last. His eyes shot open to see Tess’s hand white-knuckled around her knife, embedded in Amphios’s chest. Her expression hardened as Amphios’s turned into a mixture of pain and confusion. He fell to his knees.
“But…why?”
“Because of the girl you took advantage of when she needed help. Because of eight years of torment you put me through. Because of the woman lying there and all the women like her. Lives shattered by your whims. Because if there is anyone who deserves to die in this accursed world, it’s you.”
Tess twisted the knife, pulled it free, then slammed it up behind Amphios’s chin, sending the blade into his brain. The severed tip of Amphios’s tongue fell out of his open mouth to land on the dock. His body hit the wood, as lifeless as the rest. Tess’s chest heaved as she stared at Amphios’s corpse.
She screamed, an angry, pained scream as lightning crashed and thunder boomed overhead. Arche sagged against the railing, barely able to keep his feet under him. Blood wetted the wood, mixing with the rainwater, each pulse of it taking his strength.
“Tess?”
She raised her face toward the sky. Lightning flashed again. She shoved Amphios’s corpse into the water.
“Let’s go.”