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“Are we to believe in this blasphemy?!” The Royal Eincount had never questioned his King before. “Majesty, what you’re saying sounds like insanity.” His voice was desperate as if his near 40-years of loyalty had come to an end at that very moment. The room was more than cramped, and the walls filled with rigid, golden-framed art pieces of varying sizes and intricate flourishes. Newtech light fixtures glowed dimly, yet still set off a chain of reflective glints from the artistry below. Almost every inch of the room was trimmed or lined with a freshly-polished gold coat.
“The Sol Society is not blasphemous!” The king’s chair scraped against the ground from his weight. His desk was surprisingly empty but unsurprisingly made of pure gold, with slight, black leather accents. King Kodo took his time while rising from the chair. Its hinges squeaked in relief. His black and grey hair frayed out in every direction despite being slightly contained in a large bun that drooped down the back of his head. “They have been guiding my brothers and sisters across Haethrone for the last one hundred years. They will be granted another hundred, and I will help them. Riggleton, my Royal Eincourt, we must transfer a sum of Bits into a hacked account. Who can help us?”
Sir Roiland Riggleton sighed and swiped a finger across his personal holodeck. He moved back and forth between a few screens, acting as if he were actually doing something of importance.
“Your Majesty, I may know of a Handler who can make the transaction. Will this hacked account be sending us yet another dead-drop location?” Riggleton already knew who he would confide in with this objective. He knew where the secret location would be. He knew how much money down to the very last Q-Bit. Yes, he had it memorized alright. “Might I guess how much the account is asking for? Could it be… Hmmm, Four-hundred and twenty Bits with Sixty-nine Q-Bits remainder?”
“No, no, no, my loyal Eincourt. On this day, we progress the entirety of Haethrone in one transaction. Give them 90% of the Royal Contingency- Do not whine at your king’s feet, you soulless sheep. Do as I ask and maybe you shall ascend with me as I rise towards the Allthrone. Riggleton, I swear by the stars within our sky that this prophecy shall bring forth Haethrone’s true position among the Unender Constellation.”
“MAJESTY!” Riggleton hissed in defiance. “That is the money of those who lie within our borders!” The Royal Eincourt dropped to his knees. “The families will have no Incomebits when it is time to receive their monthly allowance! My family is already on the verge of starvation! I am your most trusted advisor! If you expect me to stand idly by while you wash this kingdom of its massive economic advantage then you truly are among the blasphemers as I have feared for many years. Not even your daughter could pull you from this insanity-” He dropped his holodeck, sending its hardware sprawling across the floor.
The Eincourt’s eyes bulged and widened until red veins sprouted from his pupils. Tiny droplets of blood oozed down to the sides of his cheeks, into his open mouth. He could no longer form words as his lips quivered and seized. Riggleton looked down at his chest, where a set of three long blades protruded from his royal garbs. Slowly, the wielder of the blades lowered its victim to the ground. It was nearly methodical; the way the figure twisted its triple-bladed sword into the coat of Riggleton.
There was no sound when the figure unsheathed its weapon from Riggleton’s lifeless body. Even when the blood poured from the extravagant wound, there was no sound. Finally, the king’s command echoed through the small chamber, braving to break the silence of fresh death.
“Find her, Wrenreaver. Take the transfer data and see it to completion. From there on, you know your destiny. If my daughter lives, then there is no hope for this planet. There will be no hope for you to regain your former… Beauty.”
The Wrenreaver removed the veil from its cloaked face. King Kodo grimaced at the never-ending scars that deformed every inch of the man’s(?) face. He very well knew that the scars did not stop there, nor did they stop anywhere on the body of this creature.
The larger hole in its face made a sick, wet, slapping sound in reply to his King. Its eyes were even wider than Riggleton’s during his demise due to the lack of both top and bottom lids. Sprouts of blonde hair grew inside massive pores upon the thing’s glistening scalp and near the mouth-hole. Twisted up scars and dried skin made it near-impossible for this creature to speak any form of language that didn’t involve dripping saliva.
“You were once described as the very essence of loyalty. I will allow that title to return you to your true form if you can prove yourself once again. Or mayhaps you will turn your tail towards those who fail to see the true potential of our world and its place amongst the stars.”
With its veil reapplied, the Wrenreaver gurgled another unintelligible response to his king. A gleaming set of runic symbols began to form and shine all across the beast’s body. The light shined until Kodo was staring at only the corpse of Riggleton, with the Wrenreaver nowhere to be seen.
King Kodo dropped back into his chair with a thud that set off a roar of creaking metal. He took a deep breath and held it in for a minute. The King’s eyes began to glow with the same brilliance of the shining runic symbols that took away the Wrenreaver. Suddenly, the glow burned a dark red hue and Kodo focused his vision intently on Riggleton’s body.
Sparks of orange and red shot out from the inside of the Royal Eincourt’s body, turning the skin and cloth into a fine, silver dust. Kodo looked up as he heard a familiar young voice shout-
“NO!” Kinner Katar nearly fell out of her bunk, smacking her head off the low ceiling in the process. She sighed and let the vivid nightmare slowly fog up and away from her memory. An hour passed as she cycled through old memories of her father.
A bright green field littered with royal workers who picked at the tall Roningrass-plants using darkened branch-woven baskets.
Golden hallways adorned with an entire century’s worth of historic emblems and family portraits that left not even an inch of free space across the towering walls.
Lingering touch as her father’s hand slipped away from holding her own. Looking up, seeing her mother’s face in a dark corner of the castle.
The ghostly essence of familial love drifting away, much further than any distance she could reach for.
Silhouettes of her parents receding into an even darker corner of her mind.
“Nope.” Kinner shook her head, attempting to derail her train of thought. It was bad there. She looked around at her tiny wooden cabin aboard the Damning Darling. There was a loud hum coming from the small circular window near the bedside wall.
She saw parts of the massive solar-sails that defied gravity and allowed the hulking craft to soar with ease into the night sky. The beauty of the glowing pearlescent sails succeeded in distracting Kinner for a moment… But only for a moment. She could make out small, shiny hull-shaped shadows that were spread across the horizon and their respecting shimmering solar-sails. Her mind wandered again and again towards the void left by the mistakes her parents made over and over. Any escape would have been welcomed. Soon, sure enough, she escaped the cramped and dimly lit cabin room, unhappy with her inability to force her thoughts in the direction she wished them to move.
The door to the library was already open by the time she had made it there. Veebo scoffed at the idea of Human company but didn’t protest entirely when she saw the look on Kinner’s face. Veebo herself nearly bore the same expression, thinking back on her father. The two of them sat in silence for a long, awkward while until Kinner couldn’t stand the silence.
“So like, you eat it?” Kinner was having a hard time understanding the Underling. Her face was lit green by the light of the library’s holodesk. “Just… Eat the soul?”
“I mean it’s got to go somewhere right?” There were rows of books misplaced, as Veebo rummaged through the bookshelf during the conversation. “Just poop it out and be done with it. I’m joking, you idiot. Although everyone’s soul does have a kind of taste, it’s just not the kind that my tongue can comprehend. Wanna know what yours tastes like?”
“Only if you want to know the taste of the Krysblade.” As soon as Kinner let loose the name of her sword, the Underling perked her ears up. She thought that might have provoked a reaction from Veebo. ‘Listen, we’re both smarter than everyone on this ship. If you help me out with finding my father, I can get him to talk to Davos and tell him how essential you were to our mission.”
“Nuh-uh, gimme the sword and we have got a deal. I definitely wanna taste that blade. I don’t know how you got it, but it does not belong to some Human. Especially a bratty princess.” Veebo sat down beside Kinner and stared at the hilt of the blade. “I thought my eyes were all screwed up during our tussle inside Lotso’s. That’s it alright- The real deal, huh? The Darken Krysblade wielded by the missing King Kodo’s daughter. With that at your hip, you must think you’re pretty strong, right?”
Kinner simply smiled and muttered a small spell. From within her cloak, the hilt of her sword gave off a dim purple glow. “Oh, I think it’s the real deal.” Veebo stole the chair in front of the holodeck and brought up a thread with information on the unique blade. Then she brought up a backdoor website filled with strange runes and foreign writing.
“Well you said we were smart, but I think I’m smarter. There’s no way the Princess of Karina and the heir to the O-Ren Dynasty found each other by mistake.” Veebo was sitting back with her arms crossed, but she leaned in closer to the princess to finish her spiel. “Throw me in the mix and we just might be able to call it a prophecy.”
“I’m sorry? A what?” Kinner had never heard the word before.
“It’s like when the weatherman predicts the weather, except in this case the entire universe is the weatherman and it’s predicting your life and/or death. You’re the daughter of the King, I’m the daughter of the Prime Underlord, and cutie O-Ren out there is the heir of the Emperor- Oh yeah, we’re probably gonna all die together. You might wanna let me go.” Kinner tried to process the information, leading to another awkward silence.
Kinner let out a short laugh. “Okay… So you’re crazy. I got it.” Some strangeness in the back of Kinner’s mind tried to come forward, but the feeling faded. “Almost crazy enough to convince me that the Underling we saw was the actual Prime Underlord. I could sense the weirdness, so he’s definitely your father or something, but there’s no reason for someone of that importance to be dealing with Karroway. Why was he playing the father of the year back there? Trust me, I’ve got an issue or two with my father. I’ll understand.” Kinner certainly needed more competent allies, and Veebo seemed like just the hacker/scammer to align her motives with. If she could find some common ground, the two of them could track down King Kodo with ease.
“Oh who even cares! He’s nothin’ but a sack of poopy potatoes and besides, he used to be the Prime Underlord.” Veebo stomped her feet and turned to face Kinner. “The minute he betrayed his own family, the entire nation went berserk and chased him out of the Great Expanse. Literally, all of Sorrowsiege is after that idiot. Some of my kind are still hunting him down. Not me, though. Oh, but sure enough I finally start to adapt to the solo-lifestyle and he magically appears on the ship I tried to screw over?” Veebo was surprised at how much she let out.
“Technically, he magically disappeared, but yeah.” Kinner pondered the coincidence that the Underling brought to light. “Listen, maybe I could lend you the sword in exchange for your help finding my father. Then we can part paths and do away with the prophecy nonsense. I mean, if I have no father to kill, what would I need a magical blade for? Could be yours.”
“Should be mine,” Veebo muttered to herself. She closed down the terminal screen and extended an open hand to Kinner. “Beats sitting in a bummed-up solar-ship with a drunkard captain I guess.”
“Hey, Karroway is cheap and I’m not exactly allowed to access the Royal Fund now am I? So our next move is to sit in some bummed-out solar-ship and maybe sneak a few drinks from the Captain’s stash while we rake in the Bits.” Kinner brushed her hair aside from her face. “Besides the First Mate can basically do all the work for us."
“Not horrible on the eyes either, huh?” Veebo grinned then pursed her lips together.
“If you say so, although I’m sure he would rather have you drain his soul from his body than whatever you’re doing with your mouth just now. Kid is as shy as a Mellomouse. Freaks out if our hands touch and whatnot.” Kinner laughed at her own joke.
“Yeah, he’s a bit too… Human for my taste anyway.” From the terminal desk, Veebo grabbed her holo-deck and pulled up a job thread she extracted from the terminal earlier. “Speaking of humans, I found a small group of villagers willing to pay us to get rid of some thief who’s been stealing their Chikkler eggs. Should I tell ‘em we’re on the job?”
“I mean what’s the pay?”
“Horrible. Don’t look at it- Or look at it, okay.” Veebo didn’t have time to snatch away the device from Kinner. “Just don’t go through my pictures, Yo. Hey, it’s not much in terms of Bits but it’s a start. I told you not to look. That disappointing face you’re making right now, that’s on you.”
“It says here they are expecting us in the morning. You already took the job?”
“Look I’m a sucker for money, they had me at ‘low-pay/high risk.’ Let’s just get our rest and brief everyone tomorrow.”
“With what time? Cap’n doesn’t even wake up until half the day is done. No, this will have to be just me, you, and Artirian.” She was happy with that plan. “For one thief, that should be plenty. No need to split the profit with more crewmates. O-Ren works for free anyways, as long as we tell him the money is going to Cap’n.”
“Typical manfool.” Veebo cracked the library door open silently. “Let’s meet here and give him the run down before we set off.”
Kinner agreed and queued up a message to be sent to O-Ren’s holodeck at a specific time in the morning. She returned to her room while Veebo made her way to the barracks. The current job gave Kinner enough of a distraction from her earlier nightmare that she was actually able to fall asleep.
Stolen novel; please report.
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“This is way too much food!” Artirian O-Ren sleepily yelled at the Underling. He strained himself trying to lift the pack that Veebo was in charge of filling. “And there is no way we are leaving this ship with one of Captain’s favorite rum bottles. You’re trying to get us beheaded, I swear.”
“Well I can’t just eat souls all day long can I? Wait… Can I? Because I would love to start with you, boy.” Veebo struggled with the first mate’s grip on the alcohol bottle. She gave up and watched him nearly drop the Captain’s precious liquid. “Nearly had a heart attack, haven’t you? Maybe you should take a swig of that before we set out-”
“No, he doesn’t need a drink.” Kinner interrupted, placing her packed leather bag between them. “Get this junk onto the raft so we can get this job out of the way and be back before Captain questions us. I’ll take that.” She swiped the rum from O-Ren and took a small gulp of its contents. Her face contorted and she nearly gagged. She ran off to the edge of the ship to release her breakfast.
“Bahaha! Starting to like this human, are you with me O-Ren? She’s something else.” Veebo lifted the leather pack with her tail and set it aboard the skyraft. “Next one please.” O-Ren passed her the food pack, but she couldn’t lift it an inch.
“See. Too much food. You can’t possibly need all this! It’s nearly a meal for the whole ship!” Artirian began shuffling through packs of sweets and rolled-up Breedbread. “Put these back… These as well… What is- OW! Did something just bite me?! You’ve packed a Mellomouse! To eat! Kinner do we have to-”
“Oh, she’s gone, boy. Fell overboard.” Veebo carefully handled the small, cobalt rodent. It’s blue fur puffed out as she caressed the creature. “And yes, I packed a Mellomouse to eat. Also yes, we do have to take me, because I got us the job. Didn’t I, my wittle swubby chubby yummy?” She held the Mellomouse closer to her face as it squeaked with delight at the scritches.
“Don’t, please not in front of me.” Artirian tried to ignore the Underling laughing maniacally as she inched the mouse closer and closer to her face.
“Nah, I’m joking. He’s not nearly fat enough for me to eat yet.” She let the animal play and run along the flat surface of the solarsails on the side of the raft.
“He ought to be after rummaging around in our food supplies thanks to you. Just get in here, Kinner’s done getting sick and we’ve only packed one bag.”
The skyraft lurched forward once the trio was safe inside the harnesses. Kinner set the coordinates for O-Ren to follow and they zipped down towards the outskirts of the sprawling kingdom of Traversthrone.
“See those swamps?” Veebo guided O-Ren visually. “The village hidden in the trees is just there, before the edge of that green pond. Might be able to see a couple of gaslamps but we won’t have a spot to set the raft down near the village itself.”
Artirian nodded and brought up the holoscreen. He moved the raft’s camera until he found a small clearing not too far from the dark green forest.
They landed without a problem and propped one of the solar sails up, allowing them to attach their leather tent set to the ship. Their teamwork was shoddy, but somehow they pitched the tent and set up camp before the hour was up.
“We’re only a little late.” Veebo’s bare feet barely made a sound on the dried leaves that O-Ren and Kinner crunched upon with every step. “Shouldn’t be more than another few minutes before we’re there. Everyone’s got their sodium pellets, right? Might wanna eat those now before we run into some leeches on the way. Luckily, Underlings have always naturally been a bit saltier than you Humans so I don’t have to gag that stuff down.” Kinner had heard of Oodteeth Leeches before but had never seen one in person. She certainly didn’t want to find out why the word teeth had to be in their name.
“That’s why you stink all the time? Good to know.” Artirian nibbled at the small white tablet but realized it would be easier to just chomp it down and be done with it. “Here Kinner, Condensed Hydro to offset the dry mouth." Both Humans popped the water pill and swallowed.
“Much better, thank you.”
“Hey, I see a gaslight!” Veebo quickened her pace as they neared the village. “Finally!”
The tavern owner gave them some of the money upfront for motivation and claimed they would receive an extra 10% on top if they dealt with this quickly. It certainly helped the trio to stay determined. A few of the villagers offered more supplies, but Artirian declined as he could see they would need it more than he would.
O-Ren and the others were directed to a dirt path that led all the way around the swampy pond. A guide took them across the way for a moment but was relieved when the trio said they could handle it from here.
“The guide said the village’s scout should be able to be tracked with his holodeck’s last known ping.” Artirian tossed his device to Veebo who began working immediately. “They also gave us that map screenshot you’ll see on there. Shouldn’t take us more than a few hours to deal with this thief. Though, I suspect there’s a reason the villagers don’t just storm his camp. Let’s keep weapons at the ready.” The first mate held fast to the boltgun on his hip.
“Done.” Veebo threw the device back to its owner. A small note played every minute, as the device kept a hold onto the ping’s location. Veebo had overlayed the ping’s coordinates onto the map so they had a direct route to their destination.
“It’s telling us to swim through the pond…” He eyed the map strangely.
“I mean, go for it. I’ll just walk around like a normal person, though. Technology can’t be perfect every time you dingus.” Veebo set out in front of Artirian and Kinner. They trekked around the pond, swatting away the minuscule Dubflies and fending off a few large Newtmons.
Soon there was no path to distinguish, they were in the heart of the murky swamp, traversing under Rootbranch trees that constantly dripped dew from high above. The humidity was visible this far out, as a thick fog rolled in across the grounds of the swamp. Veebo’s tailed flicked this way and that, dispersing some of the mist here and there. Her ears perked up and immediately she stopped the other two members.
“Leeches. Not sure where but-”
A chilling shriek pierced through even the thickest parts of the fog. A writhing pink mass jumped teeth-first from out of the mist. It’s gaping mouth housed 3 different sets of rotating jaws packed full of two-pronged fangs.
“That’s not even how teeth work! How is this fair?!” Artirian fired a few bullets towards the creature but missed every time. Two more Oodteeth Leeches sprang out in random directions, flopping across the mud and muck. These ones had a distinct dark-leather collar around their necks.
“Leave them alone and we should be fine! You took the sodium pellets so they are technically blind to us.” Veebo hung by her tail from a thick tree branch, out of reach of the horrid creatures. O-Ren and Kinner put their backs to each other with their swords drawn.
“Just eat their souls and be done with it!” O-Ren shouted to the Underling who seemed to be amused by this encounter.
“Do those things look like they have the kind of soul I would want to eat? That is just downright nastysauce. You take a bite out of them and tell me how it tastes.” Veebo swung herself to a different tree and perched upside down on a branch like a bat.
A new voice entered the fray, this one coarse but bold.
“How about ye’ taste this instead!” From the mist, there was a booming sound and flash of bullets that shredded the very branch that Veebo hung from. She wasn’t quick enough, falling to the ground with a thud. “Morskor!” A man in a dark cloak stepped out of the fog. He held a small device with a red blinking light that synced up with a small node upon each Leeches’ collar.
“Okay, sodium pellets aren’t gonna work for these ones.” Veebo slashed at one of the slimy creatures, spilling some of its sick fluids across the mud. "He's got a Wormy-Control Device!"
“I’ve deduced that one myself, thanks!” Artirian’s blade clashed with the rows of teeth from another leech. It spun its jaws, knocking the blade away with a clang. Kinner followed up and her Krysblade split the creature in two.
Seeing his odds of winning diminished, the cloaked man turned heel and tried to run. His first step landed him in a puddle of Mudsink, and the second didn’t even come. Veebo’s tail wrapped around the man’s free leg and flipped him on his back and further into the Mudsink.
“Nonono! Grab him quick before the swamp takes him!” O-Ren passed his blade on the ground to grab the man’s desperate hand. “Help me pull him!”
“Wasn’t there one more leech?” Veebo perked up her ears then yelled for Artirian to move. The Mudsink spat out a triple row of shining teeth aimed straight for the first mate. At the same moment, Artirian pulled the man free and they toppled over onto one another. Veebo’s tail struggled to grasp the mud-covered monster who now burrowed into its owners back.
“AGH!” The man bled from his mouth as the leech was ripped away from his flesh. “Tri-Scepteres save me! My life for the Soltice and all thereafter!”
Kinner put pressure on the jagged wound while the Underling dealt with the last leech. The man clung to Kinner’s garb with brittle strength.
“You can never hope to undo the Society we’ve so greatly created. We live among you. We are you. And soon… you will be one of us.” The man’s eyes began to roll to the back of his head. Veebo smacked him with his tail, giving him a few more moments of consciousness.
“That don’t even make sense man! Why would three kids undo society?” She searched his pockets for a holodeck.
“Why would the Society undo three kids?” The man’s breathing quickened as his grip on Kinner grew frail.
“Okay, can we let him die? He’s crazybrained right now.” Veebo flipped through the device she found. “Listen, Mr. Larkness, you’ve got to start talking less cryptically or just start talking less in general. I’m going through your message threads and the only person you talk to is- And he’s dead. Rip.”
“What do you mean he’s dead?!” O-Ren hunched over their adversary in a panic.
“Well, I would love to see you survive a wound carved from a million and one teeth! I also would love to see you die from that same wound, but that is neither here nor there.” Veebo was furiously swiping between screens on the man’s holodeck. “That Mudsink there would be a nice resting place, right? Get to work, Humans. Just give his body a toss.”
“So you can eat souls but clearly that doesn’t contribute to the lack of soul within you.” Artirian ripped up the longer parts of the man’s cloak and tied them around the man’s limp body. “We can at least bury him outside the forest where something other than demon worm can use his body.”
“Whatever you say. I’ve got his contact from the village pinged into my holodeck. Make sure you bring that Worm-Control Device he was using. We’ll need the proof. Kinner what are you-”
The Darken Krysblade shimmered with deep violet aura while it’s owner silently chanted some runic spell. She pointed the blade towards the body at the very end of her encantation. Her partners backed away from the cloaked man as his skin radiated white light. Bit by bit, the light dripped upwards, dissipating into the humid air. Only the empty black cloak remained after a short minute.
“That was… Different.” Veebo’s ears shook a little and she tilted her head to the side as if she were a confused puppy. “His soul is just everywhere but slowly fading into nothing. What did you do?”
“I saw my father do something similar in a nightmare.” Kinner sheathed her blade with unsteady hands. “I didn’t think it would do anything. Did I just erase his soul? I don’t even-”
“No, I can smell his soul still. It’s like you just sent it back to the very soul of Haethrone.” Veebo poked at the cloak with her tail. “Anyways, now we don’t have to drag him through this swamp for a mile. Come on, let’s get paid.”
The look on Artirian’s face was full of pure intrigue. He had seen Kinner use magic to activate something special within her sword before, but nothing near this new display.
“Well, I feel a little better if I actually didn’t just completely snuff out his soul.” Kinner reached down for the dirt-covered Control device and put it in her satchel.
“Yeah, I think maybe you should not be doing the same magic your evil father does in your nightmares.” Veebo left the other two as she headed into the mist. “Even if it was kind of cool-looking. I might know an Arcanist or two back in Adornwood- I know, it’s not the best plot in Traversthrone but if you can avoid the old people and even older technology than you might find a backdoor bar leading to a secret club of wizards.”
“You think they’d teach me some new magic that could help me find my father?” Each step felt heavier and heavier for Kinner. She just wanted to see if she could be as strong as Kodo. That, if she could use the same magic as him, she might eventually learn stronger magic to defeat him.
“I mean if they aren’t totally drunk or so old they can’t even lift a wand without breaking their wrist, yeah they could probably help.” Veebo used her tail to pat Kinner on the back. “There’s always those fancy-pants Scholars from Aetherguard. I wouldn’t know the first thing about getting their attention though. Probably need a hundred-thousand Incomebits upfront just to land at the Radmith Academy port.”
“As far as I know,” O-Ren spoke up as they passed through the rusted village gateway. “They imprison every pirate they set their eyes on. Which you both are now. Let’s deal with the thief’s contact and figure out why they were helping each other. It might mean extra Bits if we can solve a future problem for these people.”
Veebo stopped the two Humans before they entered the tavern. She showed them her holodevice, then went back to furiously typing and swiping on the screen.
“The contact is the Inn-keeper? Why?” O-Ren asked.
“What do you mean why? Bits. Free leeches. Blackmail to keep the village from being overrun by a world-wide secret society hellbent on controlling the planet-”
“Are you totally drunk?”
“No, it literally says right here on his holodeck. Take a look.”
O-Ren read through the message thread with the group, just out of sight of the tavern.
“That’s our Inn-keeper’s online handle.” Veebo pointed out. “Next line is our thief.”
Kinner thought back to her nightmare once more. She barely recalled her father saying something about this 'Sol Society' that he planned to fund. She dismissed the uneasy feeling of reliving that terrible dream.
“That’s all? Um, why does it say the Inn-keeper is currently typing?” Kinner saw the typing icon at the bottom of the thread. A new line of text popped up.
“Nice.” Veebo barely had time to speak sarcastically before she felt a thick wire wrap her limbs tight to her body. She watched for a moment as her Human companions suffered the same fate. One-by-one, an electric current was sent through each wire. Veebo’s vision went blank as her every muscle seized up.