I heard a bang somewhere in the castle.

Then…

CRASH!!!

The door of the room slammed into the wall behind me, Miard crumpled against it, a befuddled expression on his face.

Yero followed seconds later, shield leading, edge first, right into the Seeker’s face.

Blood sprayed, and I thought I’d just witnessed a murder, but then I heard a crunch and Yero screamed. He frantically punched Miard's face. Seeing no reaction, he switched, trying to pry off the glowing red hand currently crushing his shield hand into splinters.

The Lord Seeker slowly got up, still holding onto Yero’s hand, his face free of injury other than a thin line of blood on his forehead and an out of place nose. He turned to us and maintaining eye contact with Roukk, he back-handed Yero.

Yero rag-dolled through the air, smashing into the one-way mirror and disappearing out the other side.

“Always wanted to put that upstart in his place.” Miard roughly set his nose into proper alignment, then strolled towards the table, “ I’m taking the boy. I really wouldn’t mind if you tried to stop me.”

I sat frozen in my seat, at the brutality on display.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, old man.” Roukk winked at me, then he disappeared.

BOOM!!!

A pressure wave hit me, throwing me out of my seat.

“JUDE RUN!!!” I heard Roukk behind me, “THE CASTLE WILL GUIDE YOU!”

I turned to see Roukk in a grapple with Miard. He had the older man in something of a choke-hold, but was struggling to keep the man’s glowing hands from reaching his face.

Roukk gritted his teeth, “GO! Just keep running, lad!”

I took off like a light, through the doorway, past Yero’s crumpled form, and into the main hall, where I found pandemonium.

It seemed like everyone was fighting everyone else. Lights of all spectra were flying all over the place, as did fists, kicks, weapons of all types, spectral beasts, and what I could only assume was a laser beam.

And they were all blocking the exit.

So, I did the only sensible thing, I ran into the stairwell by me, and hid behind the stairs.

What?! Did you think I was some kind of main character?! I wanted to live!

There was a quake and the stairwell visibly shook, dust and loose stone falling on my head.

ThiswasabadideaI’mgonnadiehere!

I peeked into the hallway and decided running back there was an even worse idea, so I took my chances, and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

In the second-floor corridor, I picked a random door to my right and jumped in, slamming it closed behind me.

I took a deep breath, staring at the city from the singular window in the room…

I was slammed into the ground a moment later, the door pressing me flat.

Or rather the people fighting on top of it were.

I heard a sound like a gong going off, a solid thump and then silence.

The weight on me reduced and I saw a pair of dainty feet come into my field of view, “Phew! A good workout! Don’t know why everyone’s fighting, but I can’t say I’m not entertained.”

Really?!

“Oh, what’s this? Looks like there was some unfortunate behind the door…”

The feet reared back and kicked the door off my prone form.

I’m a dead body, see?! Now leave this place, you maniac! Don’t you have other ‘fun’ fights to get to?!

Her feet shifted and-

Crap!

Pain exploded in my side.

“Eurggh!” I groaned.

“Hmm! So you are alive, you naughty boy! Don’t you know fights are how you grow big and strong? Although… you don’t look like you’d live very long if you tried it.”

What’s that supposed to-she’s calling me fat, isn't she?

“Mmm…Far too much flab.”

You know what? I’m done…

“Scrghrew yoo!”

Small hands pulled me up by the hair, “What did you say to me?”

I was momentarily stunned by the vision of perfection-

What are you doing, Jude?! Sure, she’s the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen but that’s not everything! Sarah taught you better! Now give this demon in angel flesh what’s what!

“Scriew… Yiew!!” I managed.

“...” She blinked owlishly at me.

“...” I glared defiantly at her.

“Hmmm… I guess you don’t need the one thing you should have had going for you…”

She pulled one of her arms back and formed a knife hand, “A brain.”

My eyes widened, “Waitwaitwait!”

Her hand blurred-

And froze before my sweaty forehead.

I began to babble, “ThankyousomuchI’msosorryIwillneversayrubbishaboutyouagain-”

She covered my mouth, “Shut up. Let me concentrate…”

She frowned at me for a few pensive seconds, then her eyes glowed red.

Those cursed Eyes! Leave me al-

Her eyes returned to normal and I ceased my struggling, going limp in her grip.

My scalp ached something fierce.

“An Otherworlder huh?” A creepy smile grew on her face, “A good day indeed! Get up boy.”

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I sighed as I picked myself up, again, from the ground.

I sighed, again, as I saw the broken corpse of a knight in the doorway. I looked down at the petit woman beside me.

“Why?! That’s just a kid, for mercy's sake!”

“Genius too! Passed the Proving at Seventeen years of age. He needed a humbling, though. Also, just a kid? Ah! You must have been older in your old world.”

“...”

“Eh! You still give me young vibes.” She shrugged, herding me into the corridor.

Probably because powerful people in this world tend to be freakishly old…

“Figured that out, did you?”

“You are reading my mind!!”

“Figured that out, didn’t you? Took you long enough!”

“St-”

“Let me stop you there. Just because you’re useful, doesn’t make your legs unbreakable. Broken legs can be fixed easily these days. Mind your words and enter the stairway coming up on your right. We’re going higher. Got it?”

“... Yes ma’a-”

“Krix!! I know you’re the cause of all this!” A man screamed behind us.

What is it now!!!!

The completely sane lady beside me turned around with a beatific smile on her face, “Little Tolly! You’ve grown so… big! Come! Let aunty test your skills!”

‘Little Tolly’ was a middle-aged man in blue-green robes with bronze highlights.

He also looked positively apoplectic.

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wearing those robes not in some state of vexation or other.

Lady Krix sent an amused glance my way, then fully focused on her ‘nephew’ who was pointing at her, yammering on at top volume. Nearly incoherent in his indignation.

She tsked, “Kai! The curse of sameness has taken a hold of the Seekers yet again. And I had hopes for you nephew! I mean, not high hopes! But they were there!”

“Enough!” The man swung his fist at the ground and it quaked, dust rising and loose stone tumbling to the ground.

“Impressive!” The lady clapped happily.

“I’ll wipe that mocking smile off your face, you old hag!” He waved a palm our way, and the debris flew at us.

“Elementary, both the spell and the insult. Barely passable.” She muttered as the dust cloud engulfed us.

I tried to slip away, but she grabbed me by the collar, “Don’t.”

I heard heavy stomps rapidly moving towards us and in a fit of inspiration, right before whatever it was barreled into us, I twisted and wrenched myself out of my shirt, jumping into the stairwell.

BOOM!! ROAR!!!

The shock-wave of the collision flung me further up the stairs.

“Nephew! Is this an Epic Summon? I’m so proud!” I heard Krix yell as I crawled up the stairs. Although, she sounded strained.

Good… More time to escape won’t hurt.

I moved quicker. Once I got out of range of the dust in the air, I ran full tilt up the stairs.

There was only one place I could think of that would give me a chance to escape from Krix, a place that would restrain an intruder likely until the owner came back.

Though, I didn’t know the exact path there, it was high up enough that I was sure it was on the highest floor, or only a floor or two below it.

I stumbled as the castle shook again.

After the shaking stopped, I was about to keep moving, when the stairwell began to shake so violently, it almost seemed to hum as huge pieces of stone shook loose.

I decided I would get off at the nearest floor and find another stairwell.

It was frankly, one of the most stressful two minutes of my life.

Eventually, I burst out into a corridor, with a balcony overlooking the city-

Wait…

I looked down the hall, and there it was.

Roukk’s office.

“Something finally goes my way, today.”

“Mmhm! You're lucky I got to you quickly enough!” Lady Krix said from behind me.

I closed my eyes.

Took a deep breath.

“Lady Krix. You caught up. How was the spar with your… nephew?” My eyes followed her as she turned to stand between me and the office.

“He’s grown! But he’s not there yet, so I humbled him.”

“... He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“What! Of course not! I would never kill family!” She gasped, “Besides, I would never kill someone so young! He’s barely forty!”

“...”

“Anyways.” She presented a lump of cloth to me, “Your shirt, I kept it safe for you.”

“...”

“It’s a little damaged, but it’s better than running around half-naked before a married woman.”

I couldn’t stop the thought before it came out;

Someone married you?!

Lady Krix dropped the shirt.

“Gah! Wait! I’m sorry! Please understand! I can’t always control my thoughts!”

“It shouldn’t have come into your mind in the first place! I’m the perfect wife! Do you have eyes! Have you seen me!”

She was too short to comfortably hurt me, so she settled for holding one of my overly large legs (in comparison) in her arms while I desperately tried to crawl away.

It was to this scene that Roukk arrived to, walking out of the wall, looking like hell doused with ice water.

“...” He blinked at us.

“...” She blinked back with a smile.

“Roukk! Help me! She’s going to break my legs!”

“... Sweetheart, why are trying to break the young man’s legs?”

“... Sweetheart?!” I gaped.

“Honey! He said I wasn’t wife material!” She dropped my leg, “Also, why didn’t you tell me you found an Otherworlder? You know how long I’ve been waiting for an untouched one!”

Untouched?

“Yes, I do. But I found him first so, we’ll have to disc-”

“Sod off! I’m the one who safeguarded him!”

“Who do you think set him in your path?!”

“I still did the work!”

“Can you both stop talking like I’m not h-”

“Oh come on dearest! You know-”

“CAN YOU BOTH STOP TALKING, LIKE I”M NOT EVEN HERE!”

They fell silent, seemingly just remembering my existence.

I took a steadying breath, “Roukk, you promised to help me. Keep your word, or let me go my way. On that note, is Miard still a problem?”

Roukk had the decency to look contrite, “He is, unfortunately. I managed to get away. Don’t worry, the castle will delay him. I apologize for my rudeness, the ritual room is by my office. And for what it’s worth, my wife would have never hurt you. She likes to play at being insane.”

He gave her a look, “Even at the expense of her own goals, sometimes.”

She pouted.

“...Right.” I decided to leave it be.

No point in trying to convince a man that his wife is very much a murderer, if not insane.

“She-”

“Oh let me.” She sighed, her manner of speech completely changed from before, “One. I’m sorry, Jude. I’m very old and tend to take my entertainment wherever I can. It was highly inconsiderate, and I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

Roukk nodded, while I looked skeptical.

What I wouldn’t do for a Truth Icon right now.

She saw my expression and sighed again, “The Knight I killed isn’t really dead. Knights don’t die permanently in Bastion. He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Bastion?”

“This castle, it’s alive. And it’s magic.” Roukk replied.

“Wait, which Knight did you kill?!” Roukk was suddenly alarmed.

“Salaman.” She deadpanned.

“Oh, him… Needed a humbling. Okay! Please continue.”

“I also didn’t kill little Tolly, I just knocked him out. He’s my actual nephew, believe it or not.”

“He was a part of this too? Always been a disappointment, that one.” Roukk shook his head as he led us towards his office.

“He’s family, Roukk!”

“He doesn’t act like it.” Roukk stopped before the door, “Now, why don’t you tell Jude what you want with him.”

She looked like she swallowed a lemon,”Can’t we wait till after the ritual?”

“No, dear. You’re stalling.”

She turned to me, “I want you as my apprentice.”

“...What?” Hell no…

She opened then closed her mouth, huffed, then turned to one of the walls, muttering to herself, “-would have been so much easier if he was forcefully recruited by the ‘crazy powerful witch.’ All this talking is not my str-”

Roukk interrupted her grumbling, “What my wife means is that she’s the most powerful human Mage in the world, and she has refused to accept any apprentice that wasn’t an Otherworlder and unaffiliated with any factions, which is a hard find.”

“Well… I’m already affiliated with you so…”

“Affiliated in this case, implies you're being groomed for eventual power stripping. Also I don’t count. In fact, the Knights in general don’t count.”

“Oh…” I turned to the lady, who was looking at me now with puppy dog eyes, “Uh… The ritual?”

“Right! Let’s get to it!” Roukk looked at the wall to the right of his door. The walls shifted to form an open arch into a room I’d never seen before.

It was spacious and bare save for a single short bench set in the middle of a slightly taller, very wide ring of stone. There were grooves in the floor, and all over the ring. They all seemed to terminate in a narrow circular gutter around the bench.

Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about this anymore.

“Sit on the bench, then wait a bit. There will be a bit of a light-show, but when your part to play comes, you’ll know it.”

“You're not staying?” I asked, more than a little nervous.

“No. It’s best done alone. I’ll be powering the ritual and setting parameters outside, in my office. Don’t worry, the System will guide you. It can also terminate the ritual if you change your mind at the last second.”

“I’m allowed to say no?”

Roukk looked at me, “Yes. I could set you on the path to another city where no one knows you, but Miard’s reach is quite long. Don’t expect me to be able to save you there.”

“Okay…”

“You could also join the Knight order, and the Commander’s reputation will shield you while you’re within her sphere of influence-”

“-or you could apprentice under me! And only those as strong as I am, could take you against your will.” Lady Krix said.

“... None of these protects me from being used in a stripping ritual.”

“No. Only this ritual does. Yo do it, you frankly become useless to many. Only those that want a surefire prodigy under their wings would bother. And that is a far less scarce commodity.”

“Still talking about me like I’m a product…”

“I’m sorry, but until you're strong enough, that’s all you are, to most in power.”

“Wonderful…”

Lady Krix added, “On the bright side, you can still take any of the options after you’ve done the ritual.”

Given the information at hand, I can’t think of anything better than this. I hope I’ m not being an idiot for trusting that Icon…

Bracing myself, I walked in, hopped over the stone ring and sat in the bench, facing the two people outside.

Roukk nodded at me while the Lady Krix gave me two thumbs up.

The archway slowly rearranged itself, returning to being a regular wall, closing me in.

Then it was just me and my thoughts for a harrowing few minutes...