“I think the bosses lost their minds.” A pair of guards patrolled the passageways under the arena.

“And what gave you that impression?” the other guard said sarcastically. They came to the gate leading to the sewers. “Check the gate.” The other guard tugged on the gate, and it stayed firmly in place. “Do you think the snake will defeat the swordsman?”

“I don’t know.” a rat pounced on the guard stabbing him in the neck.

The other guard drew his sword and tried to call for help, but a hand covered his mouth. A sharp pang pierced the back of his head. Both guards fell to the ground.

“Excellent work Nimble,” Reviled said.

“Thank you master,”

Skivret led a group of wererats out of the sewers with Cappy waddling in after them. “Drag these corpses into the sewers,” Reviled said, “Nimble, start taking out the lanterns.” The rats went to work, and darkness overtook the corridor. The rats gathered around Reviled, “We’ll start with the vault,” it said, “Follow us.”

Reviled led the group down the halls. The rats took out every lantern to extend the darkness. They rounded a corner and saw a pair of guards standing in front of an iron door. Two lanterns hung at either side of the door brightly lighting up the surrounding area.

“Take out the lantern,” Reviled said.

Nimble snuck up to the edge of the shadows and drew a sling. She loaded a pebble and shot it. The pebble shattered the lantern on their side of the door. Flaming oil splashed onto the nearby guard. The burned guard screamed in pain as the other guard stared in shock.

“Go,” Reviled said.

The wererats charged forward. Both guards were swarmed and stabbed to death. Reviled stepped up to the door. Multiple glowing runes were carved into the frame of the iron door.

“Shiny,” Cappy said staring at door.

Reviled opened the sack at its side and pulled out several books. “Hold these,” it said hand three rats one book. Reviled flipped through each of the books, “We know it’s here,” it stopped on one page, “There you are.”

“What is it?” Cappy said, trying to see the page by jumping.

Reviled drew onto the power of its magic core. Magic coursed through the four souls as Reviled used them to construct the spell. Silent dispel. Reviled slid its claw across the frame carving a line across each of the runes, killing the glow. Now to unlock the door. Reviled charged the magic core again to construct another spell. Skeleton key. Reviled pointed to the keyhole. Several loud crashes came from the other side of the door, but it didn’t open.

“That’s unfortunate,” Reviled said.

“What happened?” Skivret said staring at the door.

“There must be protection runes on the vaults interior,” Reviled said, “Our spell tripped them, locking it down.”

Master Reviled.

Reviled let his consciousness transfer to his familiar, “What is it, Meridith?”

Something’s happened, she said, One of the owners left when his ring started glowing.

“That was us,” Reviled said, “We didn’t disarm all the alarm runes on the vault door.”

You should also know that Kogna is in the arena, Meridith said, Also Solomon’s apprentice is here too.

“Understood,” Reviled said, “Keep an eye out for anything else.”

Yes master.

Reviled turned to the wererats, “Skivret, takes these bodies back to the sewer, and take Cappy with you,” it said, “Nimble, you along with five soldiers will stay here with us.” Reviled leaned down and started drawing runes on the ground.

“What are you doing?” Nimble said.

“We’ll have company soon,” Reviled said finishing its task, “We’re creating an illusionary curtain so that we can ambush them. Now get behind the runes.”

They waited. It felt like hours before they heard voices coming from the right side of the corridor. A well-dressed man leading five guards rushed towards the vault door.

“Where’s the guards?” the man said looking around.

One guard knelt, “There’s blood here,” he said, “They’re most likely dead. Should we check the rest of the facility?”

“After we check the vault.” The man said pulling out a key.

Reviled charged forward when the vault door opened and pushed the man into the vault. Reviled drove its tongue into the back of the man’s head. The wererats took advantage of the guards shock and ambushed them. Reviled stood and stared at the open vault.

Several dozen large bags full of gold were neatly piled in one corner. Stacks of gold bars laid neatly along one wall. Reviled chuckled as it took in the wealth.

“Someone, get Skivret,” Reviled said.

“How much do you want to take?” Nimble said staring at the gold.

“Ideally, everything,”

“It’ll take some time with twenty-five of us, especially with the gold bars,” Nimble said shaking her head.

“Good point,” Reviled walked over to the corpses and raised them as zombies. Skivret came into view by the time the zombies were raised. Reviled pointed to Skivret, “You are to follow his orders.” It ordered the zombies. “We’re leaving the gold to you.”

“Grab one of those bags,” Skivret pointed to the gold. The zombies stumbled into the vault, “You can count on me.”

Reviled, turned and headed down the corridor.

“Wait for me!” Cappy said chasing after it.

They walked down the empty corridors with the cheers from the crowd above reverberating through the stone. They passed an empty dining room with half eaten meals and a barracks with made beds. The corridor ended in a spacious open area with two empty cages and five large objects covered with sheets.

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“Hello, anyone here?” Cappy said, trying to project her voice.

“Looks like we’ve taken out all the guards down here,” Reviled said inspecting a table. There were cards and a small pile of coins on it, “The rest must be upstairs.”

An ornate sword in a red scabbard caught its attention. Reviled pushed the blade partially out with its thumb. It was a dark steel blade with a single edge. A crash came from the back of the room.

“Bad ant!”

Reviled turned to see Cappy standing in front of the largest box. Angry hissing and clicking came from behind it and was joined by others. Reviled walked over and pulled off the sheet on the largest box. It laughed.

The creature inside was eight feet tall and ten fit long with a red and black carapace shell. A head crest with three sharp prongs covered the three-foot-long antennae. The large insect stared at them with fiery red eyes. Reviled pulled off the other sheets to reveal four smaller ant creatures.

“Four elithan ants and their queen,” Reviled said, “How fortunate.” The queen smashed against her cage clicking at them angrily. A stinger shot out of her mouth stopping inches from Reviled’s face. “Was this the inspiration for our design?”

“Bad ant, behave,” Cappy said trying to slap the creature.

“Compulsion magic will fix that,” Reviled drew upon its magic and pointed at the queen ant.

A red spell circle appeared around the queen’s neck and the creature shrieked in pain. Ephemeral chains linked the spell circle to Reviled’s arm. The chains solidified for a moment completing the spell before disappearing. Reviled’s mind linked with the elithan hive mind. Anger and fear struck Reviled’s mind as it forced its collective consciousness to take control. The queen bowed its head.

“Good,” Reviled used magic to unlock the doors. The ants slowly exited their cages. “There’s someone I need you to bring to me,” it said transferring an image of Kogna to the ants, “Don’t kill him, understand.” A sense of acknowledgment washed over Reviled, “Go.” The ants scurried up onto the roof trying to burrow through the stone.

“Look,” Reviled turned to see Cappy holding up a large transparent egg, “Breakfast!” Cappy opened her mouth ready to eat the egg.

“No!” Reviled said, “Don’t eat that.”

“Why,”

“That egg is valuable,” Reviled said approaching Cappy, “It’s special…like you. We don’t eat special thing, do we Capcap?”

A large dumb smile appeared on Cappy’s face, and she hugged the egg defensively, “Special,”

Reviled petted Cappy, “Yes,” it said, “You must protect that egg.”

“Okay!”

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Bartholomew watched the fight below. It was impressive. The Amu’Ryjin swordsman fought with care and consideration. Each strike calculated and deliberate. While the Zymarrian snake woman fought wild and furious. She never let the swordsman have a moment to rest, and her fluid, agile movements made attacking her difficult. The crowd erupted into cheers each time blood was drawn. Not all were focused on the fight.

Gambill sat next to him dejected. A couple of seats away Halligan sat sandwiched between the two beautiful women. Both pressed tightly against his arms. Bartholomew couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s redden face. Halligan swallowed hard as the woman in red teased his ear.

“I’m a bit jealous,” Batholomew said.

“How do you think I feel,” Gambill said with a heavy sigh.

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves,” Baron said eying up the women, “Those two are young enough to be your daughters.

Bartholomew laughed, “But they aren’t,”

“Still, I feel like I know the one in red,” Baron said, “I don’t know why.”

A rumble came from the arena. The two fighters stared at the ground with their weapons ready. The ground underneath the Zymarrian woman gave way as a large ant broken through the ground. The woman was caught in the ant’s pincers. She screamed in pain as she tried to swing at the monster, but the ant tightened its grip, cutting her in half. Four more ants burrowed through the floor. Bartholomew’s eyes fell onto the large one charging towards the swordsman.

Bartholomew turned to Gambill, “What are elithan ants doing here?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Ellion and I…thought they’d make a great addition,” Gambill said.

“No!”

Bartholomew turned to see the ants gathering around the swordsman. He dodged the first attack but before he could retaliate another charged forward. The ants were working together pushing the swordsman towards the closest hole. One ant drove its pincers into the ground forcing the swordsman to jump out of the way, but the queen charged pushing him into the hole. The ants released a unified shriek as they turned to the guards gathering in the arena.

“I’m going down there,” Halligan said rushing to the stairs, “Where can I get a sword?”

“One of the guards can get you one,” Gambill said staring at the arena in horror.

One guard screamed in pain as the queen stung him. He laid there for a few seconds before getting to his feet. The stung guard started attacking the other guards.

“We need to get out of here!” Baron said pulling on his father.

“The girls,” Bartholomew said looking around the box, but the women were nowhere to be seen.

“I-I need to find Ellion,” Gambill said rushing out of the room.

Bartholomew stared at the arena for the last time before turning to flee.

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Kogna stared at the mechanical monster standing in front of him. He had to ignore the dancing mushroom in corner, but his eyes did fall onto the sheathed sword in the monster’s hand.

“You must be Kogna,” the monster said with a chuckle.

“How do you know my name?” Kogna said, inching his way to the doorway.

“Your sister,”

Kogna stopped, “Where’s Mina?” he said with a threatening growl.

“She’s safe,” the monster turned away, “In fact, she’ll be here shortly.”

The monster approached. Kogna shifted his weight, ready to strike once the monster was within reach, but it stopped and held out the sword in its hand.

“We think this sword suits you better,” it said.

“It’s my sword to begin with,” Kogna said reaching out to take it, “Take me to my sister. For your sake, I hope she’s unharmed.”

“Ask her yourself,”

“Kogna!” Someone pressed up against him.

Kogna recognized his sister’s voice and turned to look at her. Mina buried her face into his chest and squeezed as tightly as she could. He wrapped his arm around his sister.

“Mina, how are you?” Kogna said looking his sister over, “This monster didn’t hurt you?”

Mina cried into his chest, “No, it didn’t hurt me,” she said, “It saved me from Delilah. That awful woman who…”

“We can talk about this later,” Kogna said rubbing her back, “I take it you have a plan to get out of here?”

“Follow us,” the monster took the lead with a woman in red walking in step.

“Wait for me!” the mushroom called trying to keep up. Mina picked up the mushroom, “Thank you,” it said snuggling between Mina’s bosoms.

“You’re welcome,” Mina said petting the mushroom’s cap. The mushroom soon fell to sleep.

“Stop!” Gambill stood in front of them with a handful of guards. His eyes fell on Reviled, “What kind of monstrosity are you?” Kogna stepped forward drawing his sword. Gambill lifted his hand and the ring on his middle finger glowed, “Drop your sword.”

Kogna dropped his sword and sneered in pain. He cradled his left against his body as he stared daggers at Gambill. Kogna pulled off the glove revealing the slave crest underneath.

“Please, Reviled, do something,” Mina cried.

“We don’t have time for this,” Reviled said forcefully grabbing Kogna’s left hand. Kogna screamed in pain as searing heat burned the back of his hand. Kogna pulled his hand away and stared at the new crest marking the back of his hand. “Are you going to sit there or kill them?” it said.

Kogna got to his feet and sheathed his sword. “Fine,” he said taking a stance.

“Stop them!” Gambill said pushing the guards forward.

Kogna took a deep breath. Slowly, he released the breath from his mouth. Time slowed down. With each breath, Kogna could feel the air pressure change around him. It became dense like swimming through water. Finally, Kogna slid his left foot back and condensed the air around his blade like he had done many times before. Kogna slashed at the air. The wind stuck out and flew through the corridor. It cut through the guards and Gambill with ease and their bodies fell to the ground cut in half.

“Impressive,” the monster cackled stepping past the bodies.

The monster, Reviled, continued to lead them down the corridor until they came to an open vault. A brown wererat stood guard and waved them over.

“The last of the treasure is headed to the wagons,” the rat said gesturing to an empty vault. “We’re ready to leave when you are.”

“Excellent,” Reviled said moving past the wererat, “Time to go home everyone.”

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Halligan slammed his blade into the head of the elithan queen. The monster let out a last cry before falling to the ground. Halligan looked at the carnage around him. All the mercenary guards lay dead on the arena floor. Thankfully, the city guard quickly came to help with the monsters. Halligan left the cleanup to them.

“There are more bodies downstairs!”

Halligan rushed downstairs. The corpses here were cut apart with blades, and two had holes in their heads. He came to the empty vault.

“Dammit!” Halligan said, “How could I let this happen?”

He headed back upstairs and left the arena. The crowd swarmed him. Men shook his hands, and women hugged him. Some women kissed him on the cheek.

“Sir,” a guard with an ornate badge approached, “Thank you for taking care of those monsters.”

“You’re welcome, captain,” Halligan said trying to force a smile.

“I’ll let the duke know of what you did today,” the captain said, “You are a hero!”

The crowd cheered louder at the proclamation. Halligan did his best to smile and wave, but regret clung to the back of his mind.