Gradually, the moonlight that was streaming into the room began to weaken. At the same time, the silver glow that had surrounded Grey died out as well, letting the light return to the still flickering candles. Grey didn’t move from his position at the window though, still gazing up at the full moon visible in the night sky with his hand on the window.

With Azarus' help, I straightened up from my position leaning against him, exchanging a disbelieving look at the same time. We both jumped though, when Grey spoke up again. Turning to face him, I saw that he still hadn’t moved.

“Nathan, Azarus,” He said serenely. “It worked, but we don’t have much time. I’ve been without my Status for so long that my body needs to adjust to its presence once more. I’m afraid that I’m going to lose consciousness soon, and I don’t know when I’ll wake.”

I jolted, adrenaline shooting through my veins. I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t get a chance before Grey spoke again.

“I’ll be fine, I assure you. But I won’t be able to assist you with what comes next. I don’t know-” He suddenly hunched over in his chair, hand falling off of the window. He began coughing. I hurried over to his side, aware of Azarus following me. Once I reached him, Grey looked up at me. His eyes were different, if not familiar. The sclera had grown pitch black, while the silver of his irises had begun to glow slightly. I was startled at how they looked before I remembered something. This was how they had looked all those months ago, when he had Awakened me.

Grey gave both Azarus and me a pained smile. “We can’t know how many people saw my reunion with Elys. Hopefully not many, but we can’t be sure. Either way, it needs to be tonight. Nathan…” He suddenly seemed to grow weary, as if his returned strength was draining. “Good…luck…” He drifted off, losing consciousness at the same time. He slumped in his chair, head nodding into his chest.

Azarus broke the resulting silence. “Fuck.”

I stood up from my kneeling position over Grey. “Yeah,” I said, letting out a stuttering breath. I took in a deeper one. “But he was right,” I said, turning to Azarus. I met his eyes. “I was going to do it tonight anyway. Magnus, he has-”.

“Bleddyn, I know,” Azarus interrupted me. At my look, he shrugged. “After ya passed out, I went to see Van to see if he knew what happened. Told me the whole thing. I found out what happened to you, Bleddyn, and the boy.” Reminded of Walter for the first time in a while, I turned to the bed. Sure enough, he was still resting on Grey’s bed. Turning back to Azarus, he intercepted my question before I could ask it. “Boy hasn’t woken up since ya passed out. That don’t matter right now though. We both got to get moving.”

I met Azarus’s eyes before exchanging a nod with him. Turning around, I strode back over to the table. Grabbing the energy potion, I popped the cork and downed the whole thing at once. When I was done, I grimaced at the taste. Too goddamn sour. I didn’t get the chance to think about that much longer though, as suddenly it felt like a shot of lightning lit up my spine. I straightened, feeling much better than I had before. Any kind of exhaustion I’d felt before was now gone.

“You’re right,” I said to Azarus, setting down the empty bottle and picking up the Ward Breaker. I cradled it next to the…Bond Breaker, I’d call it. “I’m going to go get ready for everything. You should too.”

Azarus nodded at me solemnly. “Aye, I’m going to go get suited up for the fight. Once I’m done, I’m going to pack up a bit and then light some fires.” At my raised eyebrow, he smirked. “Gonna burn down the forest and this house with it. That should distract the guards enough to buy ya time in the manor.”

“Okay then,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

………………………………………

I left Grey and Walter in Azarus’s care and went up to my room to get ready. Once there, I took out the outfit I was going to use for my final infiltration into the manor. I would still be wearing the same white linen slave shirt and brown linen slave pants, but under that, I had a surprise.

Some light leather armor that I’d made with Bleddyn’s help.

It wasn’t enchanted considering the difficulty it had given us in making it, but it was made out of darkened and hardened leather. I say armor, but it was really just a vest to protect my vital organs. It wasn’t much to look at either, because neither Bleddyn nor I had much experience with shaping leather. But it should provide at least some manner of protection if things went wrong.

Once dressed, I strapped a dagger onto each of my thighs. The second was meant as a backup, as I didn’t have the training for dual-wielding. I also put the Ward Breaker and the Bond Breaker into a pouch that I secured at the small of my back. Couldn’t forget my climbing claws as well, if I wanted to take the same route to the manor as last time. Some potions went in there, as well.

Just in case.

When I was done, I looked around my room for what would be the last time. I’d never considered this house a home. Despite the safe harbor it provided, I had never forgotten that we were in enemy territory. I’d never forgotten that just beyond the forest, there was a town of people that didn’t consider me a person. Only property.

I wouldn’t miss anything here. The only thing I treasured here were the…bonds I’d made.

Heh.

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Struck by sudden inspiration, I grabbed a piece of parchment and began to scribble something down on it. When I was done, I folded it up and stuck it in the pouch as well.

Opening the door, I cast one last glance behind me, before I shut the door forever.

………………………………………

When I reached the first floor, I looked around for Azarus. Before I could call out for him, I was interrupted.

“In here.” I heard from the kitchen. Entering it, I found Azarus different than I ever had before.

He looked like he was armed and armored for war.

He was wearing a combination of chain and light plate mail. His cuirass and greaves were chain, while his gauntlets, boots, and the helmet resting on the table were plate. He was also wearing a large leather belt on which a number of pouches and tools were attached. On the table next to the helmet, I could see a large one-handed Warhammer and an unadorned kite shield waiting for him. Everything seemed like it had been deliberately treated so that it wouldn’t shine, but it was still visibly steel. Good quality steel, at that.

I had no doubt he’d made all of it himself.

He’d rolled out the map Grey had made of the town on the free space of the table, and was studying it when I entered the kitchen. He spoke before I could say a word. “Got a little hand cart out behind the forge,” He grunted, distracted. “I’ll load up Grey and the boy with what I can onto it, and then make for Van’s. Before I leave, I’ll light some fires. That should catch some guard attention and distract ‘em good. Once I’m done with Van, I’ll head over to Gren’s. Luckily, I know he’s in town right now.” He finally looked at me with a grim expression on his face. “When you’re done…come find us at Gren’s. Hopefully, we’ll have done enough to save the slaves from what’s comin’.”

I nodded at Azarus, approaching the table. Looking down at the map, I let out a long sigh. “All right,” I said quietly. “Okay then.”

We were quiet for a moment. I don’t know what Azarus was doing, but I was mentally preparing myself. I needed to get myself into the headspace for what was coming.

“Ya should check your Status before ya go.” He spoke up unexpectedly. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing him to shake his head. “Something like what ya just did for Grey? System keeps track of stuff like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if ya got something for it.”

Is that so…

I did as he asked, and pulled up my Status.

He was right.

You have gained two levels! You are now level 21! You have twenty unspent Virtue points. Level 20 Class ability inherited. Would you like to review your Status? Y/N

That was all great, but it was the next few lines that had my eyebrows raising. Apparently, they were important enough to get their own, separate blue box.

For your deeds, you have been granted the title Boundless Liberator. Boundless Liberator grants the General Skill Synergy.

First things first. I needed to see what ability I'd apparently gotten for getting to level twenty. I might get something that would help with what was coming. I mentally selected the yes button on the top blue box, sending me to another page.

Level 20 Class ability (Thornblade Acoylyte) Sylvan Vigor (Skill): Gain a momentary surge of strength and speed while stamina remains.

Sylvan Vigor, huh. That sounded just like what I needed to finish off Magnus.

All right, time to see what ‘Synergy’ was. I mentally opened up my General Skills. There were a few surprises there, actually. For one, I had an extra skill that I don’t remember ever receiving a notification about.

General Skills Observe Lvl. 5 Meditation Lvl. 2 Synergy (Unique)

Yeah, that was a little odd. For one, unlike my other General Skills, Synergy didn’t have a level to it. Whatever it was, it was as powerful as it was ever going to get. For two, when the hell did I get Meditation? I’d ask how I got it, but it was honestly pretty easy to guess. My little Aether meditation sessions must have given me the skill sometime, and I’d just never checked my General Skill tab before now. I mean, why would I? Before now, the only thing that had been on it was Observe.

Still, like always, the General Skill tab didn’t give any explanations about what the skills did. Didn’t have Grey right now either, to conveniently bombard with questions. I had no idea what Synergy was, and I didn’t have the time to puzzle it out. I mentally shook it off and opened my eyes, ending my concentration on my Status and dismissing it.

“You were right,” I said to Azarus, who’d been waiting patiently for me. I couldn’t have been under for more than a few minutes. “I got a title, which gave me a Unique skill.”

Azarus grunted, reaching for his shield. “Guessin’ ya don’t know what it does.” He said, strapping the shield to his back. He reached for his hammer next, slipping it onto a loop on his belt. “System tends to do that for Unique skills, from what I’ve heard. It’s not like I’ve got one of my own.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, watching him. I guess this was it. Struck by a sudden urge, I caught Azarus’s attention. “Azarus.”

He looked over at me, to find that I’d outstretched my arm in his direction. Catching on, he reached over himself and grabbed my forearm in the dwarven equivalent of a handshake. He met my eyes. “Good luck, Nate. Don’t die out there, now. Got a whole world out there I want to show ya. Vereden is more than just misery and slavery.”

I snorted. Yeah, we’ll see. “Be careful out there, Azarus. Keep an eye on the others.”

Azarus let out a small, mirthless laugh. “I’ll do my best. Now get goin’. We got work to do.”

That we did.

With one final exchange of nods, I left the kitchen for the last time. Walking to the front door, I exited the house before turning around and looking back up at it. I guess Azarus was going to torch it soon. I felt bad for feeling like I wouldn’t miss it.

I shut the door behind me.