“Okay, I understand you two might be hesitant, and I don’t blame you, but I think we should trust Draxl,” Halvor suggested.

“Yeah, obviously,” Riven said plainly, going back to rummaging through the chest.

“I’m sorry?” Halvor said.

“We’ve all done shadier shit than follow people,” Ace said. “If we don’t get this chain off our necks we’re all dead. Nothing creates mutual trust like a mutual goal.”

“The more concerning thing is her.” Ace pointed to the unconscious guard. “Worst case scenario she was sent here to check if there was any guard here; which means they’re gonna start asking questions when invariably she doesn’t report back in the next couple minutes.”

“Glad we’re on the same page,” Draxl said. “Our luxury day-long time limit just got reduced to less than an hour.”

“How’d she sneak up on us anyway?” Halvor asked.

“I think I can answer that.” Draxl slipped one of the guard’s boots off. He held the boot high above his head, then let go. The boot fell to the ground, but the clanging sound of its impact was heavily muffled as if it were underwater.

“What was that?” Ace asked.

“[Silence],” Draxl said. “We should probably get moving quickly. How are you getting from here to there?”

The 2nd-floor corridors connecting the manor’s various rooms were exposed to the outside, and also on the other side of the street.

“We’re using these,” Riven answered. From the chest, she hoisted what looked like two railroad spikes. At the top was an intricate sigil connected to several different carvings that ran down the sides; a faint blue glow emanated from the carvings.

“Nope, I don’t get it. This just me being a country kid again?” Ace asked.

“No, I’m lost too,” Halvor said.

“They’re connectors,” Riven explained. “There’s a lot of different types, but in short they connect things. These specifically are [Bridge Connectors] and they should connect this watchtower to that manor.”

“Won’t work,” Draxl said. “They’re the wrong kind. You need an anchor for those.”

“I learned connectors before my food was solid. They’re Artifacts 101. I know what I’m doing,” Riven insisted. “These carvings and this sigil means it's modular. With the right chant, all modular connectors can function without an anchor over short distances in exchange for rendering them permanently inert.”

“They were retrofitted to be modular, but they still need an anchor,” Draxl said.

“Did you study artifacts?” Riven asked.

“No,” Draxl answered.

“Then how would you know?”

“There was a caravan with an infuser that came to town just a few days ago.”

“So?” Riven asked.

“I think I get it,” Ace said. “If you look at them despite being in that old chest there’s barely any dust on them.

“I bet Ronan decided to talk to this infuser to spruce up his security a bit; explains why his guards have silenced boots. Now this infuser probably didn’t have any connectors, since they’re traveling, but they could update the old ones, so they do just that.

“Ronan then hands them to his guard to re-install. I reckon if whoever was stationed here abandoned their post without getting someone to replace them, I doubt they would’ve gone out of their way to install the connectors immediately. They probably chucked them both in this chest and decided to worry about it later.

“Glad someone gets it,” Draxl said. “And since they weren’t originally modular, they don’t have the strength to be used on their own without shattering. All it will do is act as a beacon to let everyone know that there’s trouble and that it’s right here.”

Riven paused. She examined the connectors closer; the sigil and carvings were slightly misaligned. Moreover, she couldn’t explain why there were two in the chest.

“So what do we do then?” Riven asked, refusing to explicitly admit she may have been wrong. “If one of these is gonna be the anchor how do we get it over there?”

“Hand me one.” Riven tossed Draxl one of the connectors.

Draxl looked over the edge of the watchtower toward the manor, then slowly began stepping backward to the other end. “Quick question. Do any of you happen to know her?”

Casually strolling through the manor’s corridors was a tall, slender woman wearing a gold-lined deep purple overcoat with a black shirt and pants. Her dark hair was tied in a high ponytail and accented with purple highlights.

She carried a wooden staff taller than herself, which curved at its apex forming a shape like the letter ‘C’. The clearest indication the staff was infused was the crystal orb, clear as glass, floating in the center of the curve. The second clearest indication was the wood the staff was made of: it was burnt so black that the only thing keeping it from crumbling into ash was the infusion flowing through it.

The strangest thing about the woman had nothing to do with her person, but rather who she was accompanied by. It was difficult to make out from this distance, but it appeared to be a guard. As Ace leaned over the watchtower’s railing and squinted his eyes, he recognized the guard as the same one that had been ushered inside to alert the search party. The guard walked as if he were inebriated.

“She’s going to Ronan’s office,” Riven said.

“Isn’t that where the key is?” Halvor asked.

“Likely,” Draxl said..

The guard stumbled toward Ronan’s office door. As he fumbled through his keys, the woman turned toward the watchtower.

“I think she’s looking at me.” When Halvor looked back at the woman she smiled and waved to him. “Okay, she’s definitely looking at me.”

The woman put down her popped collar. Though difficult to see from such a great distance, the golden chain marking around her neck was unmistakable.

“Well that tells us why she wants into the office,” Ace said.

“And that we’re about to let her get away with the key,” Riven added. “Draxl, what’s the status on getting us over there.”

The group turned around to see Draxl stretching his legs. He pressed his back against the railing; a series of loud cracks rang out as he cracked his spine.

“That must’ve felt nice,” Halvor said.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“It did,” Draxl replied.

“Why are you stretching? Is your plan to jump?” Ace asked.

“You got it.”

“Now this I gotta see,” Riven said.

“Don’t think I can do it?” Draxl asked, a smirk brimming with confidence creeping across his face.

“With all due respect, no, no I don’t,” Ace said.

“Good news, either way, it’ll be entertaining,” Riven remarked.

“There are only two possible outcomes, and one of them is most certainly not entertaining,” Halvor said.

“Eh, speak for yourself,” Riven replied.

“It's like a 30-meter jump,” Ace said. “He isn’t clearing the whol—”

“[Accelerate] X [Second Wind].”

“Accele what now?”

With the quickness of an arrow whistling through the wind, Draxl dashed across the watchtower landing. He hopped on top of the railing and leaped off it toward the manor. Just as he was about to plummet into the city street, Draxl jumped off the air itself, launching himself skyward, and stopping his descent.

Even still, Draxl’s jump was a little too short. Just before he hit the manor, he reached as high as he could, and managed to grasp the balustrade with both hands. His body swung like a pendulum into the manor. The impact caused him to lose his grip with one of his hands but he managed to hold on with the other. Draxl pulled himself up over the balustrade onto the manor’s second floor.

For a brief moment, Ace was stunned into silence. “Fair play. Fair fuckin play.”

Draxl embedded the [Bridge Connector] into the balustrade.

“Hey.” Riven called out to Halvor. She tossed him the other connector. “Slam that into the railing for me.”

“At this point, I’m not gonna question it.” Halvor did as Riven instructed, and slammed the connector into the steel railing, splitting it open.

“Wait, if this thing makes a bridge, isn’t everyone gonna see us just walking above them?” Ace asked.

“These are modular.” Ace could tell Riven was trying to reassure him—though him not understanding what a connector being modular meant definitely didn’t help.

“A 2 line chant and we should be good.” Riven cracked her knuckles. “Unseen and unbreakable like the bond between family and friends, [Connect].”

The dim light emitting from the connector flared up, but aside from that nothing else seemed to happen.

“Where’s the bridge?” Ace inquired.

“It’s there. It’s just invisible, and if I did it right, while we’re on it,” Riven extended her arm out over the railing, and lowered her hand. Her fingers caused the air to ripple. “We will be too.”

In the blink of an eye, Riven’s body became translucent. She lifted her hand off the bridge, causing her to shimmer back into sight.

“Wait, if the bridge is invisible, how will we know how wide it is?” Halvor asked.

“Good question. Let me know if you find out.” Riven smiled sadistically.

The light emanating from the connector began to blink slowly fading in and out.

“What does that mean?” Ace asked.

“It means we should get moving,” Riven said.

----------------------------------------

“Okay, that should do it. Door’s open. Now I have to go in to alert the search party, so you stay out here.”

“More work? You should take a break. You seem tired.”

“Wish I could, but I need to get this done now.”

“Oh, come now! They can wait a little bit. Go downstairs and take a quick nap. I, [Insist].”

“You know what? They can wait. I’ve earned this.”

The guard wandered off downstairs, leaving the office door unlocked.

“Now, then let’s see what they’re up to.”

Draxl leaned on the balustrade waiting for the others to arrive.

“Any of them going to fall?”

Draxl turned his head to see the woman he had seen near Ronan’s office right beside him. “No.”

“That’s good,” the woman said.

“So what’s your name?” Draxl asked.

“Galina.”

“Draxl. How’d you get up here?”

“I asked nicely,” Galina said. “And you?”

“I jumped. You wanna work with us?”

“No reason not to.”

“Good. You guys catch that?” Draxl asked.

Ace appeared behind Draxl, having just leaped off the invisible bridge. “Caught all I needed to hear. I’m Ace by the way.”

“Riven.” Riven shimmered into view just beside Ace.

“Wasn’t there a 3rd?” Galina asked.

“He’s taking it slow,” Ace said. “He’s probably about halfway. Just give him a bit.”

After waiting for around a minute, Halvor finally appeared. When he did, he was hugging the balustrade like it was a family member he hadn’t seen in years. “I’m never doing that again.”

“We have to go back,” Draxl reminded Halvor. Halvor’s face displayed equal parts acceptance and pain.

“Don’t worry. If you fall, I’ll catch you,” Galina reassured Halvor. “I’m Galina.”

“Halvor. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Halvor reluctantly let go of the balustrade.

“Away we go,” Ace said, as the five made their way to Ronan’s office.

The office was a mess. It didn’t appear like it had been searched, just poorly cared for. A once white, now gray, rug was folded in on itself in numerous places with creases throughout. Rich brown bookshelves lined the walls, but few had any books in them—those that did were covered in dust. Ronan’s office was adorned with what he undoubtedly believed to be trophies: basilisk eyes, dragon scales, griffin talons, vials of wyvern venom, mummy bandages, and other monster parts.

“Guess he’s a fan of the origins,” Riven remarked with barely hidden disgust.

“Origins?” Ace asked.

“Origin creatures,” Riven said. “Remember how I said that people believed at the start it was just humans? Well, according to that same theory, there is a set of original creatures from which all others descended. All these parts come from one of them.”

“Good to know.”

“I don’t care about the parts. All I care about is that.” Draxl pointed to Ronan’s desk. Though nothing other than a mound of procrastinated work populated it, one pile of papers looked suspiciously shaped, almost like a box.

“Let me get that for you.” Galina waved her hand. Suddenly, the papers were scattered across the office floor as if a strong gust of wind had blown through.

The glare off the glass instantly drew the attention of everyone to the display case that sat atop Ronan’s desk; inside the box, was a single key.

“How do we get into the box?” Ace asked.

Halvor tried to step into the room, but Draxl stopped him.

“I’m gonna smash it,” Halvor said, confused as to why Draxl was preventing him from doing just that.

“The room is almost certainly trapped,” Draxl explained. “Touch the floor and the whole manor will know.”

“Can you move it?” Ace asked Galina. “Like how you did the papers.”

“It’s bolted to the desk,” Galina said. “I could move the whole desk across the room, but that would likely trigger any traps. Plus the desk can’t fit through the door. Up to you though.”

“It could be safe,” Riven said. “The guard I was with was about to waltz in."

“He was a bit out of it,” Galina admitted. “I mean, if we don’t want to go in, there is another option.”

“What do you mean?” Draxl asked.

Galina put her hand out, palm up. Her fingers curled slightly and tensed like she was holding onto something. She slowly raised her hand, and the window behind Ronan’s desk lifted open.

“You all might want to move,” Galina said.

The group stepped out of the doorway, following Galina’s advice.

“Is something supposed to have happened?” Halvor asked.

“Give her a second,” Galina said. “It’ll be worth it.”

“Her?” Ace asked.

The sound of shattering glass echoed in the office. An arrow whizzed by the group before it thunked into a column inches away from them.

Galina smiled. “Told you it’d be worth it.”