Kaden drew Remembrance as he approached the side door and shattered it with a single blow. Fragments of door embedded in the corpse of the old priest, who was bleeding from his eyes.
“Run!” Eve screamed as she pounded on the wall. “Rachel, run!”
First off, the temple was filled with eye-birds. Every bird in Kaden’s flock had followed Rachel in for the presentation, which as far as Kaden was concerned constituted maximum [Luck]. Four [Assassins] ringed the temple and one was giving a grandiose speech to Queen Bruna on the other side of the temple, shouting about how the lineage had to end, and if this was the cost, so be it.
Kaden didn’t have time to listen to evil, cackling speeches, or Queen Brunna’s plea to please, take their rage out on her.
Portal almost always relied on Kaden remembering the locations he used. He’d never been in the Temple of Varun. But when he’d been learning Portal, his first remote loops were never more than a few feet away. With effort, Kaden split the spell back into its components. [Mana Loop]. [Remote Mana Loop]. [Sharpen Edges], [Reality Weave]—the portal flashed into existence, beheading an eye-bird, which was probably bad luck.
Kaden leaped through and slammed into the crystal wall, causing a gush of blood from his nose. Yep, his exit faced the wall. Bad luck. Trella followed, twisting to avoid Kaden’s mistake, then pulled as Eve joined them.
“Level thirty two [Eclipse Edge] Assassins,” Trella said. “Not good.”
Without Trinity or Scully, Kaden could only engage with one, and he’d died to an [Assassin] once. “Get Rachel,” Kaden said to Trella. It was all about the girl.
Eve held her [Blood Moon] staff and swept it across the temple. The light in the temple turned maroon and the smell of blood flowed out. “That should help lower their agility.”
“Blood Healer! Look out!” One Assassin shouted as he flung a swarm of daggers at Eve.
Kaden blocked three with the [Eldritch Shield] and one with his stomach, and put all of them in Inventory. One Assassin fell to his knees as Eve activated [Life Explosion], and Kaden followed with [Mana Drain], feeding it to Eve. He could probably kill one of the other three, but that would leave Eve undefended for a heartbeat. Assassins didn’t need more.
The temple went pitch black as Trella activated her shadow pendant.
When it cleared, Trella stood behind Kaden and Eve with Rachel, keeping her behind the trio.
Three Assassins still stood, all with level advantages. One lay curled in a ball, unmoving, coated in blood.
“[Mana Lock]!” One assassin shouted—and another—and another.
While Kaden didn’t know the skill, much like the recipe for [Grilled Cheese], the name was the skill.
“Keep your eyes on them, they can’t activate [Stealth],” Trella said.
Kaden drew Remembrance and began to advance on the three. The real battle was for time, as the shouting and screaming were bringing more and more Centurions. “You know you don’t leave this temple. I know I do. Give up now.”
One of the Assassins disappeared. Stealth?
[Split Second] activated as the Assassin appeared behind him. “[Mortal Blow]!”
You have received a [Mortal Blow].
[Resilient Constitution] has blocked 16,000 points of damage.
Kaden looked down at the dagger sticking out of his chest. Hadn’t Sara said his organs were less the way he survived and more an expression of his existence? He gripped it tightly, hanging on.
“[Backstab]!” Trella shouted. “[Neck Stab!] Damnit, one of these has got to be a skill.”
Warm blood sprayed on Kaden’s neck, even as his own gushed out. “Need healing!”
The grip on the dagger impaling him gave, and Kaden stored it away. The [Assassin] had given it up because it was the only way he could survive Trella’s attacks. Kaden’s life flared up, even as the [Mortal Blow] continued to drain HP.
Rachel was screaming and the smell of [Plague] engulfed the world.
A sharp cry of pain hit Kaden harder than any dagger to the gut, because that was Trella, but if he turned to help, the other two would be free to strike.
A blast of fire exploded out, hitting Kaden. A screaming, burning [Assassin] stumbled past and fell to the ground, writhing.
“Eve.” Trella’s voice was a whisper. “Heal.”
Kaden drew a healing potion and passed it back, still scanning an empty temple, then followed it with one of his own. “Agony Cloud,” he said. “Agony Cloud will reveal them.”
Even as he spoke, Kaden recognized the cry of pain from an eye-bird, one just to the right. He activated [Moment of Speed] and threw himself forward as [Split Second] burned.
“[Mortal Blow—” The Assassin stopped his blade passed a hair from Kaden’s throat, and Kaden sliced at the man’s knee with the [Levicon Blade].
Crippling Strikes has inflicted a crippling injury.
Target mobility halved.
“Come on, you bastard. Let’s see what you’ve got.” Trella’s challenge almost distracted Kaden. With invisible targets, Kaden couldn’t afford to finish the Assassin. He had to keep his focus. He summoned the [Eldritch Shield] and smiled as a gasp revealed the other Assassin had to be twenty feet away. The [Fear] effect hadn’t lasted more than a second.
But it was enough to cause the man to retreat.
“Trella?” Kaden risked a glance back.
She traded dagger strikes as her target deftly struck the inside of her wrist. One Ink Blade clattered to the floor, followed by another.
The Assassin groaned as Trella drew a lamb-and-potato skewer from Inventory and stabbed him in the eye. His answer was an Assasin’s triumphant shout as he activated skills. “[Mortal Blow!] Oh, think you can avoid me? [Overkill!]”
Fear locked Kaden’s gaze as Trella faded from view. Her [Rescue Reset] had activated, meaning she wouldn’t be able to get back inside the temple.
“[Mortal Blow]” another Assassin shouted.
Kaden knew, because [Split Second] didn’t try to activate, it wasn’t aimed at him. He spun to find Eve grappling with an Assassin, who seemed shocked she wasn’t dead—and then shocked when Kaden [Back Smashed] him. Kaden summoned Vip, who leaped on the assassin, seriously making his ankle bleed. “Vip, dash attack!”
The dog began to circle and crackle with lightning that struck the man in the center.
“This one’s mine,” Eve said. “Where are the other two? Let’s see if my [Blood Moon] staff reveals [Stealth].”
Eve activated it. When the light washed over Kaden, it smelled like a battlefield and made Kaden want to vomit. But it struck a blurry figure in the middle of the temple—a blurry figure who became the fourth assassin, who hurled a storm of blades.
Too late, he recognized they weren’t aimed at him, or Eve, but at Rachel.
Kaden leaped forward, using [Moment of Speed] to focus and [Multitasker] taking the leading blades into Inventory, but the swarm split. Two daggers clouds sailed outward in a wide arc, converging on Rachel.
Influenced by the panic in Kaden’s gut, Eye-birds leaped into the air in a desperate flight and caught the daggers with their chests. Maybe they were lucky after all.
Kaden focused on [Beast Command]. “Forward.”
The flock, crazed and in a panic, surrendered to his command, and struck two different [Stealthed] Assassins.
Eve echoed, appearing at every corner of the temple. “[Moon Fall]!”
Instead of beams of light, two white meteors impacted one of the Assassins, while the others killed Eye-birds on the spot. “[Life Explosion!]” Eve shouted as she channeled the healing to him.
[Mortal Blow] was the worst.
“Keep the healing going,” Kaden shouted as he charged forward.
The Assassin drew a curved sword and swung in, but [Split Second] let Kaden dive under the swing and counter with the Levicon Blade. “You’re not regenerating mana or health, are you? Most [Stealth] abilities like that cost mana. Hope you like [Harvest Wind].”
The Assassin dropped stealth and leaped at Kaden, trying unarmed combat. Kaden caught the man and charged, sprinting straight at the crystal wall of the temple.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
You have inflicted 800 points of ramming damage on your ram.
You have broken your ram.
The Assassin wheezed blood, but he activated something on his armor and razor spikes errupted from his elbows. “Poison. You die.”
“Always looking for new poisons.” Kaden wrestled to jab the man’s spikes on his arm—then caught the other fist and broke the man’s arm. It was one thing to attack him. It was one thing to stab his heart. It was another to try and murder a child. Also, the eye-birds.
Kaden ducked as the assassin spat black bile at him. It ate at the stone and burned, but Kaden coudn’t tell if the drop in health was the [Mortal Blow] or the acid. He smothered the man’s face with his hand, then gripped the man’s head and pounded it down.
His gut burned, and he looked down to find the man had slashed him with his broken arm. Kaden unleashed all the fury that had been building, using both hands to slam the Assasin’s skull backwards into the stone.
Anyone of a lesser tier would have been killed on the spot. The ruined Assassin still fought, slashing at Kaden’s chest only to throw sparks from the metal there.
A trickle of health raised him up again, and Kaden twisted the [Assassin’s] head to the side to block more of that bile, then jerked left to avoid a spiked dagger with gleaming red edges.
“Kill him,” Eve said. “And make sure there won’t be a resurrection. My bracelet won’t let me survive another [Mortal Blow].”
Kaden answered with [Wrath of the Furnace], vomiting liquid fire onto the [Assassin] and holdinghim until the body stopped jerking. His health had become an odd loop, rising and falling like his breath, always lower.
A health potion made it stay steady, but not rise—then ticked five points up.
You have been affected by [Minor Mend] (Rachel Barrister).
You have been affected by [Hand of Varun] (Rachel Barrister).
Bleeding is slowed.
One by one, Kaden looted the [Assasins] and blasted their corpse with fire. “How do we open the temple?”
Eve looked to the doors—then the statue. “Rachel. I need you to do something. You need to finish your prayer. Those men won’t hurt you. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
Kaden picked up one of the burned corpses. “See, this guy’s rooting for you to finish the prayer.” He waved the arm back and forth and spoke in a high pitched voice. “Go Rachel! You’re the Best!”
Dead eye-birds littered the floor, so Kaden harvested materials from all the dead ones and herded the others into an arc around Rachel. The burned assassins he made a tasteful mound of, and then covered with dead eye-birds so the corpse mound was giving thumbs up. “There we go, all cleaned up, let’s do this. Pecky and Flappy will be your wingmen.”
The eye-birds began to nudge Rachel forward as she approached the statue of Varun and kneeled in a puddle of blood. Eye-bird feathers stuck to her robe and the smell made Kaden hungry enough to pull a skewer and offer one to Eve, who accepted with grace.
“G-g-goddess hear my prayer and s-s-see my heart, consider my deeds, please.” Rachel said, her voice echoing in the quiet temple.
For the briefest moment, the temple air weighed a thousand pounds. Then Rachel glowed. Her robes shifted, growing eye-feathers and the chunks of gore and stains disappeared.
Goddess Varun has accepted your offering of loyalty.
Rachel backed away and then sprinted to Eve, burying her face in Eve’s shoulder as she wept. Kaden looked to the doors—which remained locked. “How the hell do we get these open? You know what? I don’t need a door. Give me a minute to portal—”
A body slammed into the crystal wall, outside, as Trella stabbed a soldier through the chest with a lamb skewer and then ducked another’s attack. “Do not bring her out! And don’t give me that look, I’ll buy more of these.”
“Rachel, was that all of the ceremony?” Eve asked.
The girl murmurred something that must have been yes, because Eve looked to Kaden. “It should have unlocked. I don’t get why it didn’t unlock.”
“Because the goddess’s temple must not be invaded while she holds council with a priestess,” said a rich and warm voice. “And I have waited long to hold council with you, Evelyn.”
Kaden was almost afraid to look. The statue was no longer a statue, it was a woman wrapped in crimson light, with eyes of the night sky and wings like a demon and skin that was pearly red. “Let Rachel go.”
“Go? Out there? Where people are killing each other?” Nurav asked. “Oh, I’d never do that because she’s one of mine. Not like Eve, of course. The little girl lacks that special something I need in my priestesses. She’s gentle. She’s afraid. She looks around and doesn’t recognize the power here.”
Eve kept Rachel behind her. “Why did you come? I didn’t call you.”
“But you made a most wonderful sacrifice. In my temple. How could I ignore it?” Nurav asked. “No, I am a goddess of healing, but I am the aspect that understands that healing flows like blood and for every resurrection there is a violent end. And you are my priestess, Evelyn. You show the world the truth with your skills.”
Kaden chugged another health potion. “Great. You met, Eve’s awesome, we need to be leaving. We’ve got a long walk to the FarPortal and a friend who went missing in the Iron Gear Empire. You have some housecleaning to do and you need to work with someone to fix your image because everyone’s terrified of you. No need to unlock the temple, I can open a Portal.”
His portal exploded into fragments as chunks of gore transitioned through.
“Be silent, [Beast Master]. I didn’t manifest for your entertainment. I didn’t even manifest because of that deliciously violent show of power you gave. I came because for the first time I didn’t have to fight to maintain my grip on her.” The goddess looked to Eve. “You understand? One coin, two sides. For her to exist in sweetness and warmth, I must exist like this. We have thousands of priests who dispense love and warmth. Only one to deliver our wrath. You will be more powerful now, Evelyn ‘Black.’ I give you my blessing.”
“What do you want me to do?” Eve asked.
“Use the power I’ve given you. Teach Adventurers there is no give without take. Let them appreciate the light by experiencing the darkness. We will speak again, when it is time. I have much for you to do, but not yet.” Varun looked to Kaden. “I would offer you power, but every branch you deny. My blessings, my abilities. You waste so much blood, your enemies, and your own. I will not waste my words on you. But there will come a time when you beg for my power.”
“I could totally make a deal with you,” Kaden protested.
“Excellent. Would you like to know how I bestow it? It’s very primal. It’s sexual. It’s—”
“Pass,” Kaden said. “My lover is right there.” Kaden pointed out the crystal front, where Trella made a concerted effort to slit a soldier’s throat with a lamb skewer.
“She loans you out on Sundays,” Nurav said. “It’s Sunday somewhere.”
“Not! To! You!” Trella shouted.
*Hate*. Vip’s thought echoed out as she positioned herself between Kaden and the goddess.
The goddess gave a huff of disdain. “Run away, little dog. Evelyn, remember—”
You have been effected by [Divine Secrets] (Nurav).
Time stuttered. Kaden fell to his knees and vomitted blood as the world turned red. He was crying. His nose dripped, he’d puked and his ears were sweating. Or he was bleeding from all those places.
“Deep breath,” Eve said. [Life Explosion] activated, raising his health and purging the dozens of status effects Kaden hadn’t even had time to hear. “I’m sorry. I had just enough time to put my hands over Rachel’s ears, but I didn’t have spare hands. Just hold on, the Temple has a natural healing aura that should activate the moment I leave. I can’t out-heal a goddess, so I’ll be waiting for you.”
A gush of cool island breeze hit him, and people stampeded in.
True to Eve’s word, a warm presence filled the temple, soothing the wounds in his chest and the constant drain of [Mortal Wounds]. Vip crawled up in his lap and licked the blood from his cheeks. Dog hair was probably not medicinal but Kaden would trust in his enhanced [Constitution].
“Her blessings on you.” Slive’s voice made Kaden open his eyes and look up as the wounds in his chest spasmed and filled in. “That’s a nasty skill. I’d purge it if I could but it’s better to out-heal it.”
Twenty eight hundred points of damage took forever, but with every moment, Kaden felt stronger. He stood and looked at the line of adventurers advancing to the statue to make offerings. “Does Varune take offerings of goods? I have a bunch of weapons the Assassins dropped.”
“Our goddess is not so mercenary. True, we charge to reverse curses and hexes and for difficult resurrections, but this, healing from the Goddess’s presence? If they make offerings, she accepts it. If the only offering is the understanding of Varun’s nature, that, too, is accepted.” Slive directed him forward. “Don’t be afraid. You already met the dark half.”
Kaden drew a handful of daggers and waited. Like Yarrow, a barrel-cup sat at the base of Varun’s statue. Kaden tossed in the daggers and relief flooded him when the Goddess let him go. “Oh, wait, I guess these are yours, too.”
He dumped the eye-bird feathers he’d taken. “Sorry about killing all your eye-birds. Also about some of them getting roasted. Also about taming them and using them as decoys to kill a bunch of assassins in your sacred temple.”
The healing surge ceased, and Kaden began to wonder if he’d annoyed another god. “Thanks, I’ll head out now.”
Outside, Kaden found Eve surrounded by healers who focused energy on her and focused praise on Rachel. Slive clapped her on the shoulder. “Minor Mend! An excellent skill, the skill you will use more than any other. What a great [Priestess] you will be.”
Kaden kneeled down so he didn’t tower as much. “You saved my life. Without your healing, who knows what would have happened?”
“Can I see your dog?” Rachel asked.
It wasn’t what Kaden expected but he could oblige. “Vip! Stop chasing the eye-birds!”
Vip came streaking through crowds, shocking people as she threw off lightning and circled Kaden. “I don’t know. Vip wants to run and she’s extremely fast. You’d need to be very fast to catch her.”
Rachel squinted. “She’s got four legs, so I have run twice as fast. That’s not fair. I’ll give her food if she lets me pet her.”
Vip pranced over and jumped until Rachel picked her up.
Trella walked up with an Inkblade in one hand and a skewer in the other. “I hate other Assassins. Also, I leveled and I’m damn close to leveling again. The thing about assassination attempts is that there’s always people on the outside. Now there’s fewer. Hello, Priestess.”
Rachel stared as Trella sheathed an Inkblade and put away a skewer. “I saw when you took me through the darkness. I saw.”
“I did say to keep your eyes closed.” Trella glanced to Eve, who stood conversing with the Priests. “This place is wired. Depending on how the Queen wants to play it, it’ll either cool down or explode. We should get out of here before anything else goes wrong.”
Kaden looked to Eve. “We shouldn’t leave her.”
“Eve cooked a level thirty two assassin on her own. Yeah, you and your lovely [Mana Drain] helped, but she’s not defenseless.” Trella tapped Eve’s shoulder. “You’re good here, right? This whole island gives me the creeps. No one is this happy or friendly and I just keep waiting for someone else to attack.”
“I am. I’ll be back tomorrow. I think I’d like to spend a few more hours here.” Eve stepped closer. “You should stick around. Demand a reward.”
“Absolutely not. I got a bunch of cool daggers and sweet scars and I got to tame an Eye-Bird,” Kaden said.
“I got to kill a man with a lamb skewer without ruining the skewer or the meat,” Trella said. “Not that first skewer. He did manage to punch me in the throat, so Inkblades are definitely better. Going to need you two to help me recharge the [Rescue Reset].”
“What do you want me to tell Sara and Ashi?” Kaden asked.
Eve sighed. “This was always going to happen. I’ll leave the decision to you. I’ve been dreading this for years.”
“Not a huge deal, trust me.” Kaden walked with Trella to the FarPortal and messaged the Portal Mages to take them to the Holding. It was dark, well past midnight, and Trinity lay coiled on the front porch. She rose and ambled to meet Kaden, sending a clear desire.
“Of course, it’ll be unlocked for you.” Kaden stopped to feel of Trinity, who allowed him to check her teeth and tongue and look for poisonous spines. “It’s fine. I’ll lock the dungeon after you go in and check in the morning.”
When Kaden opened the farmhouse door, Ashi emerged from the master bedroom in a gown. “Ah, you have returned. A Raid Boss was threatening the towers again. I will move up to Eve’s room.”
Sara came down the stairs in lime green pajamas with the Horror holding a blanket around her. “You’re back late. Did you get the Seal?”
“Yep. Eve’s Queen Brunna’s daughter, her little sister’s a [Priestess] now, [Assassins] tried to kill her at her ceremony, the Goddess Nurave manifested and now we have a bunch of Assassin loot to trade.” Kaden dumped it all on the table. “And we brought lamb skewers. Not that one, Trella.”
Trella drew a different set of skewers. “These have extra ginger.”
Sara rushed to take a pair. “You remembered the important part!”