‘Mm,’ Arzak said, crunching down on the last of the boiled sweet with enough noise that it made my teeth hurt. ‘Fruity.’ As copies of Arzak faded into existence, dotted around the shop, Val moved to peek around the doorframe.

‘How many?’

‘Seven. Big boy’s here too.’ Val whipped her head back around quickly, like she was almost spotted. ‘Got your portal magicks back yet? Not sure the three of us can take down that many.’

‘We don’t have to take them down, just escape,’ I reminded her. ‘What crimes have they committed to warrant us killing them? Thought we were doing the hero thing these days.’

‘They probably have committed crimes though, haven’t they?’

‘Yeah, probably.’

The three of us shuffled back to the door, peering around it more subtly than Val had been doing before.

‘How long left until you can magick again?’ Val asked.

I checked. ‘Forty-eight minutes. You reckon we can hide for that long?’ I meant it as a sarcastic comment, but Val glared at me like I was stupid. ‘Alright, it’s going to have to be stealth time, I reckon.’

‘I no have stealth,’ Arzak said.

‘Might be a good time to get it. Give it a go, and if it doesn’t work out… barge through?’

‘Mm. I do that.’

I poked my head out around the corner, just at the same moment that the knight of the realm—who was most familiar with what the three of us looked like—pointed at one of my copies. He thought he’d found me. ‘Alright, time to shine.’

We dropped to a crouch and began moving slowly through the store while the soldiers concentrated their attention on a figure they’d soon realise wasn’t real. I thanked the Architects—probably a bad habit, at this point—that Ted had managed to draw such a crowd, as it made our navigating through the shop easier, being that it shielded us mostly from sight.

Up ahead, I spotted one of the soldiers in the crowd, not moving on the fake me with the rest of his colleagues. It was an idea opportunity to eliminate him from the situation, and help to even the playing field a little. Realising that a crouched man might draw unwanted attention, I rose slowly to a stand, and activated In Plain Sight to blend in with the crowd, which allowed me to draw in close to my target.

I removed my blade from its sheath as I approached, getting leers from various customers who seemed to be wondering if they should just leave the store at this point, but thankfully none of them drew attention to me. When I reached the soldier, I grabbed him tight, holding the pommel of my dagger facing downwards, and activated Execution not once, not twice, but three times. What with me not using the point of the blade, I wasn’t going to do much damage—even with the boost applied by Execution—and I didn’t want to risk leaving the soldier conscious.

Level 20 soldier of the golden kingdom defeated!

Stealth — +1,200xp

Stealth increased to level 12!

Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 WIS, +2 Free Points (DEX/WIS)

Knifework — +1,000xp

‘You ever notice we take out more people than monsters?’ Val whispered.

‘Not now, Val,’ I replied, easing the soldier to the floor. The crowd around me had noticed the attack—of course they had—and while, thankfully, none of them had screamed, there were now very noticeably moving away from me.

It drew another of the guards’ attention.

‘Arzak, stay here,’ Val said. ‘Styk, go right. I’ll go left.’

I nodded, and the witch and I left Arzak crouched in the centre of the ring of empty space in the otherwise crowded store. Between Val and I, we had the next soldier flanked, and though Val hadn’t said anything, I was pretty sure I knew by now what the plan was.

When the soldier in mustard surcoat passed between us, their eyes widened as they spotted Arzak, and realised that she was one of the so-called “criminals” who had fled through the gate. Not that I could really argue this label; if nothing else, we were criminals, even if we were currently committing crimes for good reason.

Val burst out of the crowd at the other side, flinging both hands forward and blasting the soldier with a blast of air. At the same moment, I pounced, bottom of my knife pointed towards the soldier, Execution well and truly activated. With the extra impact added by the blast of air, I was able to fell the soldier in one hit. I caught her as she fell and placed her gently on the ground.

Level 21 soldier of the golden kingdom defeated!

Stealth — +900xp

Knifework — +900xp

The gap around us grew larger still, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the soldiers spotted it. The only problem? The other five were still just about in the way of the exit. There was one idea I was yet to try, and I pulled the paper bag of enchanting sweets from my pocket, beginning to rummage through them.

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‘What in the gods’ green—’ a familiar voice said, and I turned to see Ted emerge from the crowd. His eyes narrowed when he saw me. ‘Oh, no. No. Not again. Not again.’

It took me a moment to understand what he meant by “again”, but then it hit me. We’d damaged his place of work once before. And if this got out of control, we were about to do it again.

With this in mind, what he did next was absolutely the wrong decision.

‘Guards!’ Ted shouted, pointing down at me, snatching the bag of his enchanted sweets from my hand.

‘Oh, Ted,’ Val murmured.

Cries erupted as soldiers barged through the crowd of customers, not caring for the wellbeing of those they cast aside.

‘Scatter!’ Val half-whispered, half-shouted, then me, her and Arzak all began to run our separate ways, preventing the five remaining soldiers from being able to completely surround us.

I soon realised I was, at this point, hurrying away from the door, and then took a hard left between two high display cases. The jars of sweets in each were arranged in colour order, which I thought was a nice touch on Ted’s part, really. Up ahead, I saw one of the soldiers getting distracted by a copy of Arzak—surely he would have known it wasn’t her, as she’d been on the other side of the shop only seconds earlier?—and I swung left once more, past an elaborate alchemical display. This display featured two tanks of some liquid, as well as complex-looking glassware down which colourful liquids ran. From the fact that it seemed to be a closed system, I figured it was just for show; Ted had really put his heart into the shop decor.

Moving on, I kept low, weaving through the crowd, which was thinning, as some people were now starting to leave. Two soldiers were up ahead, so I doubled back to the alchemical display, and risked poking my head up above the display cases to search for a route out. I saw Arzak—the real one, not a copy, based on her movement—getting close to the exit. What I didn’t see, somehow, was the knight of the realm barrelling straight towards me.

He hit me with a tackle rather than a sword, which was probably a good thing, considering I didn’t think I’d survive a hit from his weapon. But that wasn’t to say he didn’t do any damage; I felt a rib crack as I hit one of the two metal tanks of liquid, and involuntarily cried out with pain. I grit my teeth, pulling myself to my feet, desperately searching for a way out that didn’t involve my portalling abilities, and completely failed to notice the tank wobbling on the table behind me.

The knight swung with his heavy sword, an attack just slow enough that I was able to jump to the floor to avoid it, and he hit the tank instead. At this point, it toppled.

I rolled out of the way as the heavy drum hit the floor with a clang, the top bursting off and its contents washing over both me and the storeroom floor. I couldn’t help but to taste the liquid as it washed over me, and I can’t tell you how happy I was to discover it was just salt water.

The knight charged to swing his blade down at me, and I skittered backwards across the wet floor. As the knight swung, he lost his footing on the now slippery stone tiles, and had to grab the top of a desk to stabilise himself. I took advantage of this distraction to climb to my feet—also nearly sliding over in the process—and charged for the door. Clearly we weren’t going to win this fight; our best bet was to keep running until my Mana-Halted active effect wore off, so I could portal us away. Which was just another… forty-one minutes. Great.

At least I still had plenty of mana, and through my Mana-Fuelled ability, I could use that to power my Knifework attacks, if it came to that. As I arrived at the door, I skidded into someone, and pushed my hands out to separate us before realising it was Val. ‘Run!’ she cried, and we hurried for the door, where Arzak had already arrived. The witch slipped on the wet ground, the salt water now having covered the whole shop floor, and I grabbed her arm to keep her upright. As we crossed the threshold into the outside, Val suddenly halted.

‘What is it?’ I asked, as she turned back to the shop.

The witch grit her teeth. ‘Sorry, everyone.’ She dropped to the floor, pressing her hands into the spilled salt water, and activated her newest ability. Lightning erupted all around the store, making everyone in it—soldier, owner and customer alike—suddenly tense all their muscle, freezing them to the spot. As I caught sight one of the display tables starting to catch fire, the three of us fled.

4x soldiers of the golden kingdom escaped!

Level 32 knight of the realm escaped!

Stealth — +2,200xp

Stealth increased to level 13!

Stealth increased to level 14!

Base Points gained — +2 DEX, +2 WIS, +4 Free Points (DEX/WIS)

"Styk"

Level 13 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 32

Intelligence — 124

Dexterity — 60

Strength — 62

Wisdom — 47

Charisma — 21

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 30

Knifework — Level 26

Stealth — Level 12

Identification — Level 10

Needlework — Level 9

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Basic Cloth Armour — Craft basic cloth armour, quality dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%

Copycat:

Creates formless copies of the user that distract and confuse any opposition.

Mana-Halted:

Prevents marked person from using their own magick abilities.