It was twenty minutes after the militia left the Cove when three soft, polite knocks came at the door. I was finishing up a drawing of Ikit I had started a few days prior. Clio and Shadow perked their heads from their respective spots around the room. The curtains I had set in the hollowed-out windows fluttered inward as a chilly wind rushed in and settled into the room.

Be careful. I tell the two of them.

I put my sketchbook and pencil away, and step through the curtains hanging over the threshold into the hallway. All the while, not a single other knock was heard, but judging from the shadow blotting out the light bleeding in from underneath my front door, whoever was there didn’t leave. I approached it and swung it open. The cove was a safe place, wasn’t it? Perhaps the paranoia wasn’t necessary, but the mana around me tingled as if a spell had been put in place nearby.

I pulled open the door, and rush of wind fluttered by and stirred the curtains leading into the main room of the house.

“Windy day, isn’t it?” The man standing at my door said.

The best way to describe him is nondescript. His skin was full of an average number of blemishes, and his hair was brown bordering on black, and was pulled back by a heady gel. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of round sunglasses that sat on his wholly unremarkable nose, that matched the aesthetics of the gray and black pinstripe suit he wore.

“I heard you were a whiskey person, mind if I come in?”

He holds up a black box with the words, ‘Yamazaki 55,’ written on the front in gold lettering.

The man spoke with a disarming smile in a slow cadence.

“Sure, may I ask who you are and the reason you’ve come here?”

“Why, I’m just a refugee. Like everyone else here.” He said with that same disarming smile.

I led him down the hall and into the main room of the house. He set the box down on the table as he took a seat. The wooden chair creaked at his movements, and I took the seat across from him, slipping off my sandals. I planted my feet on the stone ground.

“Now, what can I help you with?” I ask, clasping my hands in front of my face and eyeing the man suspiciously.

Mana moved around him. There was something fishy about him.

“Ah, before that, how about a glass and a toast to the health of the Four Peaks?”

“I suppose.”

I folded my arms on the tabletop, as he pulled a pair of crystal glasses out of the same bag he carried the whiskey in. The black leather gloves he wore made sure that his fingerprints didn’t stain the clear glass.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He set both of the glasses down and slid open the box. It was beautiful as if I were looking at a rare gem; an amber, almost ruby hue of the glass complimented the black foil at the top. He pulled it out and opened it, a little bit of the amber liquid in both of the glasses, before sliding one over to me. I watched him take the first sip.

“It’s really quite good. Go on, try it.”

He said with his disenchanting tone.

I take my glass and hold it up to my nose. It smells like wood, almost, and something...else in there. I take the whiskey in my mouth. The first sensation was the burning bite of the alcohol like always, then a very slight sweetness, like those of dried fruits.

“Now that we’ve shared a drink, let’s talk.” The man said, setting his glass down in front of him. “You’ve been a thorn in our side for a while now, Sage.”

Sage? Ah, I see. He’s one of Roki’s. Should I kill him? No. I’ve never had the opportunity to talk with the enemy before. Perhaps I’ll get some information out of him. Just in case I cast Cure Poison on myself.

“And? That’s my job as a chosen of Earth, isn’t it?”

“Bah, Earth? What good has it done for you lately? Shifting the blame of all those nasty things onto you...mocking you all of those years, simply because of your weight. Isolating you as they did...”

He leaned forward with every sentence.

“Don’t you hate Earth? Don’t you want the power to upend that society that treated you so poorly? We can give you that if...how do you say it, if you, ‘play ball.’”

“I have plenty of power,” I answer as I reach over and pick up the bottle to pour myself another glass.

He grins as he leans forward a bit more — his chair creaking with his movement.

“Then how about wealth? Women? Fame? You can have all of that and more, all you need to do is stand down when told.”

I take another sip of the whiskey.

“Doesn’t really interest me,” I answered.

“Then men?”

I shook my head.

“How many people have you bribed like this?”

“Me personally?” The man grins, “I have only been working in your region, but so far I have made well over a thousand deals. All different in their natures. Others like me in this region have made countless deals.” The man grinned, “We’ve set people up in jobs in media, as social media influencers given them millions of dollars, swayed the hearts of women or men they were after...we can do anything your heart desires, if you meet your obligations, that is.”

“I’m not really interested in any of that stuff.”

I take another drink and cast cure poison.

“Ah, perhaps you’re into something more...illicit. By anything, we mean anything that could match your unique tastes.”

I sputtered a bit.

“No, nothing like that. I want nothing to do with you, in fact, I’m curious about how you find this place out.”

“Hm, we have eyes everywhere.” The man said, “So you’re saying you won’t cooperate?”

“Of course not. I’m going to be the one to kill Roki.”

He tore off his glasses and set them on the table. His gray eyes narrow as he rests his nose on his interlaced fingers.

“Ah, I didn’t want to pull this card. I was hoping you’d be smart enough to accept our offer.”

He pulled off the glove from his right hand. On his middle finger was a golden ring with a large gold circle on top. He tapped on it three times in quick succession.

“Do you know what I just did?”

I shook my head and pour myself another glass of the whiskey; filling the glass halfway.

“That was a signal for the five ships waiting just beyond the Great Barrier to begin making their way here. Do you know what that entails for the people living here, Mister Able?”

I shook my head again and sip at the amber liquid.

“I hear you’re a man who doesn’t do well when faced with the deaths of innocents, then how about this?” He leaned forward once more. “If you accept our offer, I will signal the ships to turn around, and we will give you an officer’s position within the Icarian Corps, clear your name in the media, remove your bounty, and, once Roki rules the world, you will be given any nation on Earth to rule as a king.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then an army of 500 will sweep through the cove like a wave of death. Every man, woman, and child will be killed, and their corpses used as decoration for our lord’s Chariot, and their meat eaten by our troops. Their eyes will be pulled and worn as jewelry by our wealthy, and their bones will be fashioned into weapons. Is that what you want?”

“I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” I say as I took another sip.

“What if I just stop the army.”

“You won’t be able to.” The man said confidently, “On the lead ship there is an apostle. We know how much you struggled against your last one, don’t we? So what will it be?”

I took another sip.

“No. I’ll stop them.”

“No. You won’t.”

As quick as lightning, the man reaches for his belt and whistles a sharp whistle. The shadows in the corners of my room shift as two ratmen come out of the darkness and dart toward me. Before they manage to make it a step away from the walls, and before the poison-soaked dagger wielded by the man across the table from me could reach my throat, three Earthen Spikes jut out of the stone ground and impale each of them. I take one last sip of whiskey and set down my glass next to the knife dripping with the amber-colored poison.