The black mass of feathers and pirate gear undulated to the rhythm of the chant, surrounded by a moat of molten metal. Dark wings outstretched and interlocked like a shieldwall; the crows rocked forward and back as one. A stoplight red glow emanated from their scaly feet. Matt counted twenty-five of them—but the movement and wings made it hard to be sure. The sand around the lava river steamed aggressively.

“Bright ‘n shinies, bright ‘n shinies,” the chant rang and then stopped.

Something was happening. The mass stilled. Matt panicked and ducked back down to the sand. The crows stayed silent.

Did they see us? Matt thought, feeling the soft grit against his cheekbone.

Fallyn tapped his arm. She pointed ahead.

Matt steeled himself and peeked back over the dunetop.

Just outside the encircled area, four crows had lined up facing the crowd. They each held an item in their beak. The first one looked to have a metal wine glass and wore a navy jacket with gold buttons. Then a fifth bird moved to join them, carrying a necklace and wearing an eye patch; it flew from a glittering mound.

“Bright ‘n shinies!” the crowd chanted once.

Then the crow with the goblet flapped its wings, awkwardly gaining lift with its bounty. It flew up and up, in starts and dips, then landed on a rail at the top of a small silo. The curious vat was made of material Matt couldn’t identify, but its supports looked like wood. The top emanated steam, glowing red; Matt guessed it was open. The crow stared out at the cultists below.

“Bright ‘n shinies!” the crowd came again.

The crow leaned over the top of the structure and dropped in the cup. Flames flared out the top.

“Bright ‘n shinies, bright ‘n shinies,…” the birds resumed their chant until a squawk. Then they silenced and a crow with a Barbie doll moved forward, carrying it by the hair.

Matt ducked back down. What the actual fuck?

Kurtis was at his side. The cat-man shook his head and shrugged.

Val seemed entranced.

Matt tapped her and Fallyn and nodded below. Then he retreated back to the valley. Steaming sand eroded with each step. He noticed Sofia was already ahead of him.

“That’s seriously weird,” Matt whispered to Dirk, who’d been waiting at the bottom of the slope.

“Yep,” said the hood.

“That’s a lot of birds,” Sofia whispered. “Even for the six of us.”

“Yep,” he repeated.

The muffled chant continued steadily in the background.

Fallyn joined the conversation with eyebrows raised.

“I bet the talisman’s in the pile beside that container,” Kurtis said, taking his last steps down the dune.

“We need a plan,” said Matt.

“Well, no shit, Sherlock,” said Dirk.

“Hey…” Kurtis admonished.

“Well?” Dirk doubled down.

Fallyn shot Matt a glance.

Matt didn’t know how to respond.

“Good job, Wiggles!” Val whispered, stroking the beaver’s head.

Dirk turned to face the furry creature, who had his tiny hands clasped and was staring up at Val. Wiggles happily shifted his weight back and forth between his hind legs.

“What about that cauldron?” suggested Fallyn.

“That what?” Dirk said.

“The large container at the back,” she explained. “We saw them drop a cup in the top and then it flamed.”

“Huh.” Dirk stroked the black fabric where his beard would be.

“If you think about it,” Kurtis weighed in, “it doesn’t make sense for this to be an unwinnable scenario. Fallyn’s idea sounds neat.”

“Based on?” Dirk challenged.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Kurtis lowered his ears and didn’t respond.

“I’m in,” said Matt. Kurtis needed to get into that abbey.

“Us too!” said Val, tugging Wiggles’ hand up with hers.

“Hee?” The beaver stared at their raised limbs.

###

About ten minutes later, Matt was back watching from the height of the dune. He crouched carefully low on his stomach and waited, trashcan lid digging into his torso. Val and Wiggles were at his left.

Black feathers blanketed the area inside the molten moat below, swelling forward then backward as one, flecked with bits of primary-colored fabric. They rolled over the deep red glow as the steam poured out from all sides.

Dirk was stealthed somewhere down below, preparing to lay a smoke trap. Fallyn, Kurtis, and Sofia were supposed to be creeping around behind the cauldron. All Matt saw was black feathers, flecks of pirate clothes, and red steam. The chant filled his ears. The movement was mesmerizing.

Wiggles nudged Matt’s hip. Val was absently stroking his head but, apparently, that wasn’t enough. Matt set down a sword and ran a hand down the animal’s side. Wiggles leaned into it with his butt.

Friendly little guy. I wonder what—

Matt’s thoughts were interrupted by a crack from below. The Cult of Crows stopped chanting. Dark green smoke filled the far side of the molten circle. Val shot forward with surprising speed.

Matt grabbed his sword and pushed up from the sand, sliding. He and Wiggles dashed after the Princess Pilot.

Crack. The sound cut through the afternoon desert. The silo-like structure was still standing.

Crack.

Crows stumbled into each other and Val ran at the molten moat.

Crack.

She landed inside. Illuminated red and dropped a smoke trap.

CRACK.

The wooden base of the cauldron buckled, the vat collapsed forward, then tipped into a roll. Val leaped back over the moat as bright lava crawled through the smoke.

Matt held up his swords and bent his knees, ready for the birds to leap towards him. He searched the thick smoke, adjusting his grips, as a few clipped squawks sounded.

His friends took their positions on the dune to his right. Val and Wiggles stood a few feet behind him. Matt nervously eyed his party interface. Everyone’s health was at full. Matt’s heads-up display dropped.

‘55,467 XP’ floated up to the desert sky.

‘Get revenge on crows: 33/50’

‘Get revenge on crows: 34/50’

‘Get revenge on crows: 35/50’…

What?

‘Get revenge on crows: 50/50’

The green smoke cleared revealing the cult encased in lava. A few charred wingtips protruded, but most of the birds were fully entombed.

“Well, that was anti-climactic,” Matt said quietly.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Kurtis exclaimed, walking closer to the moat.

“You wanted us to do something that you thought wouldn’t work?!” accused Dirk, suddenly at Matt’s right.

“Don’t sneak up on a dude like that,” Matt said, stepping to the side.

“I didn’t think we’d fail exactly,” Kurtis defended.

The hood crossed his arms.

“I just thought we’d have to fight them or something,” Kurtis said. “You know…” He swung his staff like a sword and made a buzzing sound.

Dirk harrumphed.

“To the talisman!” Val cheered, bounding towards the treasure pile. Wiggles scurried behind her.

“What she said?” Matt suggested, glad for the change in subject.

“Yeah,” Dirk said darkly. “Let’s get it and head back to Handlebar.”

On the way to Val, Matt leaned over the moat to try looting a charred wing. It stretched out towards him as if it died reaching for freedom. The loot window popped up, as he’d hoped.

It contained CCs and familiar junk, but an additional item caught his eye. It zoomed away too quickly, so opened his inventory for a closer look. The item was a necklace, but not a trinket. And looking at felt strange. He knew he couldn’t equip it, but there was something else about it that he couldn’t quite place.

He pulled the necklace from his inventory and turned it over in his palms. It was a locket. He pressed the sides of the golden oval and it sprung open with a click. There were two photos inside: a blond woman, who could have been Sister Chloe’s daughter, and an actor whose name Matt couldn’t recall.

‘Return locket to Sister Chloe: 0/1’ appeared in white text in front of him.

“Hey guys,” Matt said, approaching his group. “Did you get that?”

“Get what?” Kurtis asked.

“No?” said Fallyn.

“Uh, see if you can get a quest from this.” Matt held out the open locket for them to touch.

“Hey, that’s Brokeback guy,” Dirk said.

###

The orange sun was dipping behind the abbey when Matt and his group arrived back at Sister Chloe. Gravemist coated the land like algae floating along the surface of a lake; it lapped against the iridescent barriers around the nun and the building. On the side where Matt stood, magic hugged the pale walls, forming a bubble perhaps an inch from their surface. Sister Chloe smiled, showing her crow’s feet.

“We’re back,” Matt said.

He was feeling hopeful. Red had been satisfied with their revenge and awarded enough XP for Sofia to level. That quest put Matt 23% of the way through his XP bar. Things were definitely going more slowly, but now he had two quests to turn in to the nun.

“Welcome, specialist,” Sister Chloe said, in that muffled distant tone. The blur descended, focusing the conversation between Matt and the nun. “My hands are tied without that talisman. By chance, did you retrieve it?”

“I did,” Matt confirmed. “As well as a locket that’s yours?”

“A locket, you say,” pondered Sister Chloe. “May I see it?”

Matt retrieved the necklace and opened the latch. He held it up to her bubble.

“Ah, my Jake. Where did you find this? No matter. Thank you, specialist. Thank you. You have the talisman?”

“Yes.” Matt nodded.

“Hold it up for me. You can give me the locket once we’re inside.”

Matt swapped out the necklace for the talisman, which looked like a jeweled scepter.

“A little higher,” she instructed.

Matt raised his arms.

“High as you can go.”

He held it above his head. The nun raised her eyebrows, so Matt moved to stand on his toes. Then Sister Chloe gestured upward, and the talisman wriggled against his grip.

With a nod from the nun, Matt let go and the golden object shot into the sky. It soared high above the abbey, unblurring the path it traveled, connecting down to the bubble with sticky strands of light. Then it slowed to hover above the apex of the bubble, beads of light pulsing down.

“Done,” said Sister Chloe. “Now we go in.”

Her personal bubble moved with her, parting the neon gas she approached the abbey wall. There were no doors or windows where she paused by the stone, just the bubble and an inch of airspace.

“We must be quick,” she instructed.

Then the area in front of them shimmered, swirling shield and wall into a large circular pool. It rippled gently, reflecting the light, but revealing nothing of its depths.

Chevron nine encoded, thought Matt and stepped through the portal.