ERROR_QUEST_BRANCH_UNKNOWN.

RELATIONSHIP_LEVEL: 0

ANGST_LEVEL: 0

DEBILITATING_DELIBERATIONS:0

RESOLVING…

RESOLUTION REACHED.

The world snapped back into focus, and Kaden shifted to juggle items. Now he held two skulls and two books.

“Imposter!” shouted one skull.

“Heretic!” shouted the second skull.

Kaden handed one to each of them. “I gather from the system prompts I was supposed to spend days here listening to your sad stories and how one of you wronged the other and only you can make things right or take revenge or one day destroy the world. Look, life is rough. Both of you get a skull and both of you get whatever this book is. There’s no need to plot about how to regain the other half of whatever because you both have it.”

Quest Completed: What’s Right isn’t always Easy, Part 1.

Quest Completed: What’s Right isn’t always Easy, sub quest.

DESCENDANTS DEAD OR NON-EXISTANT, AUTO-COMPLETING QUEST.

Quest Completed: What’s Right isn’t always Easy, Part 2.

That was unexpected. One of the four either never had children or they’d already died, meaning as far as the System was concerned, that part, too, was over. He’d need to check with Mr. Dervish about the last two packages. “Anyway, you two have a great life. Or death. Whatever Necromancers have. Ymersist, you’re awesome. Keep being awesome.”

*What just happened?* Sara asked.

Duggarn repeated the question, but Kaden was done. “Apparently I skipped a branch of the Quest. Now they both have Inheritances.”

“I’ve spent years preparing for the day when I was forced to murder my sister!” Sevin said in a whisper. “All the terrible monsters I’ve embedded in the walls of her sleeping chambers, wasted.”

“I’ve spent years slowly poisoning my brother for the day when he tried to murder me,” she answered. “I don’t think I want to poison him slowly anymore. What is my purpose if I’m not poisoning the people I love?”

Duggarn cleared his throat. “Ymersist, Dannae, stay here. You two, with me.” His lead-most skeleton pointed with a sword toward the door. “They heard me. You don’t have to repeat everything I say.”

The skeleton dropped its sword and began to move its fingers in complex patterns.

“Yes, I said you’re my mouthpiece. When I’m not here. I’m here, my mouth is enough,” Duggarn said. “No, I’m not looking to replace you.”

The skeleton made another set of signs. And hugged Duggarn, barely fitting its arms around him. “There, there. First few centuries of undeath are the hardest. Soon, you won’t even remember life, or the warm sun on your skin, or what it’s like to be happy.”

That seemed to cheer all the skeletons up.

“If you would be so kind?” Duggarn asked.

Sara led the way down the hall, stopping when she reached one section. “I fell from here. This is a safety violation. If there were any kind of regulations in Omnor, I’d report it.”

“Emergency rescue hatches. Half the time people show up here, they’re being pursued. Standard practice is to put them underground where binding spells are muffled.”

“Wait.” Kaden stopped. The Intelligence charm he was wearing had just made a connection. “This place is made of bone. Is blocking the binding because of the bone? Or a spell on the bone?”

“Bone. Any bone muffles spells. That [Eldritch Shield] of yours eats spells because it’s mostly [Wraith] wrapped around a basis of bone. How’d you keep the [Bone Waller] from dying of poison?”

Kaden didn’t mind sharing that. “I have a Guardian title that heals wounds over time.”

“Battle titles are better.” He strode toward a wall, and another door ruptured, leading to a side room with more comfortable chairs. A pair of glowing red skeletons huddled in what looked like a fireplace, occasionally bursting into flames to keep the room cozy. “First, accept my sincere appologies for the attacking. And the murder attempts. And the kidnapping. Spend a thousand years dealing with the attacks of a mad Necromancer and it would make you, too, paranoid.”

“We’re sorry for the deaths,” Sara said. “Very sorry, Kaden. Also sorry for using your [Necromancers] to break down your doors. If you don’t mind, we’d love to go anywhere but here. We have business in the Market.”

“The Market opens tomorrow. A team of Centurion parties taught an Great Old One she was not so great, just old. You, I recognize. Jackie Scylla’s daughter. You. Butcher Birch had a son, which implies she stayed with the [Ranger] instead of killing him. Wonder never cease.” Duggarn shook his head. “Did your mother ever tell you about the Seige of N’Quin? How she snuck into the castle, seduced the Mad King, had him sign over his kingdom and committed to a Sanitorium?”

Kaden and Sara exchanged confused glances, but it was he who spoke. “My Mom did what?”

“Hers. Yours had a simpler solution for every problem. Mad King? Kill him. Tyrant trying to conquer the continent? Death. Waiter got her order wrong? You guessed it.”

“I suppose Mistress Scylla left that part out of the stories. Trema Birch probably fed you from a skull-cup and let you cut your teeth on one of her daggers.” Duggarn swore. “Daggers! She came to the Market looking for a [Darkling,] hell bent on taking its fangs. Be right back.”

He shuffled off down a shadowy hall.

“My mother the murderer,” Kaden said.

“Oh, trust me, ‘Seductress’ isn’t making me feel better.” Sara shook her head. “Did you know any of this?”

“Mom and Dad were normal. Boring. Mom taught me to fish. Dad tried to teach me to track. I didn’t learn daggers. I didn’t learn swords. I didn’t learn anything before they died, not even [Identify].” Kaden couldn’t hide the bitterness. “‘Butcher.’”

Duggarn softly cleared his throat. “Apologies. The Skellies there informed me of your conversation. I always assumed her child would take back after her. Certainly after your rampage, I saw similiarities. She left these here after her deal with the Darkling.”

He set down a set of scabbards.

Foot-long daggers, longer than Trella’s, with black blades and glistening gems in the pommel.

[Inkblades]

The Inkblades are inextricably linked to each other. If one is lost, it will return to its twin. Damage from an Inkblade leaves [Huntress’s Mark] on the target and inflicts [Shadow Ink]. Shadow Ink slows mana regen, using it instead to grow [Shadow Ink]. Shadow Ink inflicts continuous damage. Do not cut yourself with the [Inkblades]. They are not loyal. Your blood as as good as any other.

Kaden stored them in Inventory. “Was she always so…brutal?”

“You don’t get a nickname like ‘Butcher’ by handing out flowers. But she was less brutal and more driven. Once she decided on a course of action, it might as well be history you were talking about. But she loved to dance and sing, and if she ever slept in an empty bed, I didn’t know about it.” Duggarn paused for a moment. “I had a boy a few centuries ago. We don’t talk much anymore, but I understand why your parents hid themselves away.”

“Wait, you knew her as Trema Birch?” Sara asked. “After she married Kaden’s father?”

Duggarn nodded. “That was three hundred years ago. They went their separate ways as often as they were together. Sort of to be expected, a [Ranger] and a [Shadow Blade]. You’ll understand if you ever make Centurion. No matter how much you love someone, five hundred years is a long time to spend together.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“It’s a lot to learn.”

“The part about how she slept with everyone? Or the part about how she murdered people?” Duggarn asked.

“The murders!” Kaden tried not to shout—then caught himself. “I’m sorry, I’m with Sara. I really want to leave.”

Duggarn nodded. “I understand. But before you do, I have an offer for you. For you both. We worship Mortis, god of death. It has its downsides. The obsession with black. The constant fear we’re going to murder people for corpses, when there are perfectly good corpses abandoned every day. But it has one key advantage. You want to talk with him?”

Sara’s sharp intake said she was surprised. “You can do that? Our Necromancers said they couldn’t.”

“We have the High Priest of Mortis here. Unless your Dad’s been re-incarnated already, you can absolutely talk. But here’s the rules: Only one at a time. And you can’t share what the dead tell you. The System itself won’t let you.”

Sara stood. “I accept. Kaden, stay here. Don’t kill anyone. Don’t steal or break anything. Please don’t blow anything up, or accidentally summon a god, or—just take a nap, ok?”

“I only did that once. But I can wait.”

Duggarn pointed to a shadowy door that sprung up like a portal. “This way. It’s the least we can do.”

It must have been an hour before Sara returned. Her eyes were red, her cheeks streaked with tears, but the smile on her face was real. *You should talk to them.*

Kaden shook his head. “Dwelling on the dead—”

Sara’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Trust me?”

He went with Duggarn, stepping through the smoky portal.

The temple of Mortis was filled with living plants, green vines that trailed from the ceiling, birds that flitted back and forth, singing. A literal river swirled around the wide circle of rock, magically impelled to continue its path. The High Priest of Mortis, Kaden unfortunately recognized. “Sorry about bashing down a door with you. On the up side, I specialized my [Battering Ram] skill for flesh rams.”

“You…enjoyed that?” The [Priest] asked. “Specialization happens when you find your perfect match. You enjoy breaking things with people so much the System recognized it.”

The man looked like he might say something else, but Duggarn cleared his throat. “Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes deadly mistakes. Thanik? Let him talk.”

The Priests’s gaze shifted, becoming something inhuman. Unworldly. And when he spoke, it was with a voice like dust. “Your lover has not come into Mortis’s Court yet. She resides between Life and Death. Your Father fights in eternity, waging war on the Others to atone for his actions. But I will grant you an audience with my blessed servant. Yes, this and more she has earned.”

Kaden almost jumped out of his skin as a skeleton nearby began to rustle and rattle. Mana blasted from runes surrounding it, and the bones clicked together, as shadows settled like cloth over it.

It sat up. “You’re as good as dead when I…”

Kaden knew what it was to have a dagger thrust through his heart. Literally. Now he knew it again, because the voice was hers. “Mom.”

“Oh, Kaden.” The skeleton rattled, rising with shadows like a gown, and others like falling black hair. Hair he’d forgotten, and eyes of darkness that still knew him. “How long has it been?”

“Twelve years.” His voice broke. There was no need to ask if it was truly her spirit. “I missed you.”

“A [Beast Master], like I foresaw. Good, good. You’ll need that power. You’ll need more. And a Dungeon Master? Something’s changed.” The skeleton walked closer, its bones grinding with every step, but now Kaden saw her. Her spirit, drapped over it like the shadows.

“It’s been a crazy few years.” He couldn’t help reaching out to touch her shoulder. Or recoiling at the feel of crumbling bone.

She looked past him. “Leave us, GraveBreaker. My words are not for your ears.”

“Butcher, I want to say—” The Centurion stopped as his mom hit him with a gaze. “Of course. I’ll be waiting. Your son is welcome here.”

Only when he left did her spirit look back to him. “You know what I was, now. Remember who I was along with it. I don’t regret my choices, but I regret not being there to explain to you. To raise you.”

“What happened in that Dungeon?” Kaden asked.

The spirit stopped, as though listening to a far off voice. “There are a thousand things I want to tell you, but I can’t. I won’t risk your Destiny on my desires. Are you happy?”

“I will be. You know how it goes. Demons. Bindings. The [Slaver] Class. My lover is spending time dead until we can break it.”

“Some time dead is good for the soul. Your father will be proud.”

Kaden didn’t doubt it. “Tell him I walked into Hell with a Ranger and stole an eye from Demon Lord Ass-modius. And killed one of his daughters and captured another. I finally learned to use a bow. And [Stealth!} I made a new kind of [Stealth], [Stealth Aura], when I woke a Worldboss.”

Spirits didn’t need to blink, and essentially were always staring, and yet he got the distinct feeling that if she’d survived this would have earned him a lecture. “You have an entire life ahead of you. You don’t have to live it all at once. Find friends. Keep them close. There’s no loot worth betrayal.”

“I’ve got Sara, we worked at Beast Control together. She’s Party Leader. And Ashi. She was a princess but got disowned after her psychopath brother tried to kill us both with a [Storm Condor.] And Eve. She’s Eve, and that’s probably the kindest thing I can say about her. And Trella will live again.”

“Your lover?”

He nodded. “My room-sister from the Saint’s Hall. Now she’s a [Shadow Blade]. I went to ShadowVale. The Sisters have [Shadow Cats] again, and I got to sample all the food in Senior Sister’s buffet table and got [Resist Suffocation].”

“I see your Father when I look at you, but I hear myself.” She smiled. “Do you have the Darkling’s Fangs?”

He nodded. “I can’t use them.”

“Destroy them. Sell them. Trade them to the Sisters. Don’t let anyone you care about use them. Your Father’s bow, too. You’ll never dual-class as a [Shadow Blade] or [Ranger.] Your path is different. Don’t be afraid to walk it. And FangWood—it was a quiet place to raise you, all it took was killing a nuisance who thought he was dangerous. Keep it. Abandon it. Whatever you decide is right.” She reached out to touch him, brushing the metal. “When I was young, my very first talent was [Prophecy]. I hid it so others wouldn’t know and judge me for it. It kills me that I can’t tell you what’s coming when I can finally put it all together.”

For the first time in his life, Kaden understood certain moments. “There’s been a couple times, I couldn’t explain why, I just knew I shouldn’t do something. Hunting a Tyrantor. Going to Hell that first time.”

“It’s in your blood. You don’t have to pick the [Talent] to get flashes, but the talent makes it more reliable. What I can tell you is this. You’re rushing towards a moment where you have to decide, a decision you don’t want to make. For a man of so few words, your father could negotiate with anyone. He could reach a deal with anyone, convince anyone. You have that gift, too. But when the time comes? Remember in that moment, you are my son.”

Something about the way she spoke made Kaden focus. “I’ll be back. I have the FarPortal. We can talk every week.”

“I would never do that to you. We can’t live your life, and too many forget about the now to remember then. Once a year, I’ll answer, if the gods permit. Now, allow me to give you advice for the first time in your adult life: There are two kinds of people - those who don’t look good in a Beast Head hood, and those who don’t look good and know it. Second, try not to aggravate the women in your life. It’s not a [Prophecy], just a hunch that you need to work on it. For me?”

“I’ll try. I have so many questions.”

Her spirit began to thin, the bones showing through more and more. “There is only one question a child needs their parent to answer when they are young, and only one question they need the answer to as an adult. You know the questions. Never doubt the answer to both is ‘yes.’”

The skeleton shuffled back to the pad it rose from and laid back down, and with a sigh, the spell ended. Kaden came out of the room tired, not from his battles but from the warring emotions. He met Sara there, and had no words.

But he knew what he had to say to Duggarn. “Thank you. I…”

“I couldn’t help noticing you were on the Saint’s Hall registry in Verona. Have you found the Priests?” The Centurion’s question implied there was more.

“Not yet. They used a Corpse Tunneler’s tunnel to escape, but a Dungeon spawned there and ruined our chance of tracking them.”

“Corpse tunnelers are tracked very closely. Verona. The one killed near there had struck in Sheviton not five days earlier. Did you check there? Hard to believe no one from Verona thought to look where the tunnels came out. Easier to believe they didn’t look hard enough.”

Kaden nodded. “I’ll look. I’ll look harder than anyone else. I will find them. And when I do?” He couldn’t help thinking of his mother’s warning. “I’ll find them. The head priest is a Centurion. The triad below him are fifties. I’ll need to get stronger before I send them all straight to Hell. Sorry, Mortis’s domain.”

“Court. Mortis holds court, but his judgement is his own. Do not look to the gods for justice. If I may ask, what brings you to the Market? Word is you obliterated a Emporium Asset Protection detail.”

Kaden considered what all to say. “My lover and I have a cursed [Binding] on us. I heard through…someone…there’s a Vichorean SpellBook. They say spells in it can raise the dead. Kill worldbosses, and break every binding.”

The Necromancer’s eyes narrowed. “Raising the dead is easy, though it depends on what condition you want them in. Skellies are easy. If you want flesh on them, the task is more difficult. If you want the flesh to not be rotting, it’s even more difficult.”

“A spell to break the binding. I’m not trying to be mysterious, but I believe the person who told me. I totally believe them, and if there’s a chance? I’m going to get that book.” Kaden danced around the edges of a lie.

“You’ll need an introduction to a Broker, and something to trade at the Market.”

“Diggus Bikus is the Broker we’re told can help. And I have something. I’m not happy about it, but I have it.” He felt terrible about using Mana Dust for anything, knowing it would be sold to an addict.

“The market will re-open tomorrow to general admittance. I can’t offer you help getting in, but I do know two of the Brokers. Diggus’s best quality would be sanity. He’s possessed of greed and sanity in equal measure, a rare combination.” Dugarran paused. “The far more powerful option is Oberix. She was a core of the market before Omnor existed. She was ancient when I was a young necromancer and has an unholy ability to get what you need before you know you need it. I could introduce you.”

Kaden thought it over. “Sara? Is there any advantage to meeting with Oberix?”

“If she truly does have some ability to know what we’re after, I don’t want a powerful broker to be aware of that and get it before we can. We’ll try Diggus first, though I am grateful for the offer.” Sara dipped her head, though one of the pseudopods shook sideways in an emphatic ‘no.’

“As a Centurion, I rarely have to consider such situations. However, in this case, I think it’s quite reasonable. I do want to warn you of something. This is absolutely not a threat, do you understand? The Emporium is the safest place you could possibly choose to stay on a first trip.” Duggarn paused.

“I sense a ‘but’,” Sara said. “My mother recommended our lodging.”

“Your mother hasn’t been here in a decade. The moment you made a deal with Trade-Rite—yes, I know about it—you lost any favor you had with the Emporium. In fact, unless I miss my mark, they’ll be looking to settle a score.”

Kaden exchanged a glance with Sara. There was no going back to Ms. Andersons. Then he thought of the second, greater problem. “How do we get home?”