Part XIX: Lies Of Ascension

We arrived in Zelas after dusk the following day, just in time to watch the lanterns light up around the peculiarly shaped city. The lights seemed to bloom first around the towers in the centre of the city, before spreading slowly to its outskirts over an hour or so. Raelas, who knew these parts well, suggested that it was because those in the tower were rich enough to have servants to light these lanterns for them, whereas elsewhere in the city the residents lit them only when they had time.

We, however, remained beyond the perimeter of the city, using the lingering warmth of the desert sun to remain at a distance, and plan our next move. Since the revelation on the road, two days ago, we knew now just how extensive Yusef’s network of spies was. It was a fair assumption that someone would spot us as soon as we entered the city, especially considering how many orange robes we’d seen on the merchants’ road in the past few hours. Maybe they’d spotted us already. Maybe he already knew we were here.

Still, though, we needed a moment to figure out what was next. Prophet or con man, a central issue remained: Yusef was surrounded by hundreds—if not thousands—of loyal followers. We simply couldn’t compete with that, even with Raelas, Tokas and Lambkin added to our number.

‘We figure out where he is, and then we take it from there,’ I said. ‘No point in planning anything until we have all the information we need. Raelas and Corminar will go in as one team, Arzak and I as the other. If we run into trouble, we open a portal and we flee. There’s—’

‘What, split up?’ Val asked. ‘Have you learned nothing over the past couple of years?’

‘I’ve learned to sew,’ I countered. I don’t really know why I said that.

‘Point is,’ the witch continued, ‘if we split up, we’re weaker. We’re easier for Yusef and his cronies to pick off. We’re much better off staying together. We can still run, we can still open portals and get out of there, but we stay together and we watch each other’s backs.’ She looked at me as though expecting an argument.

‘As the lady says,’ I replied.

‘I’m not a lady.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ With that, I turned, and lead out crew of seven towards the towering desert city of Zelas.

As we reached the outermost buildings—where on other cities there might be a towering wall, manned with guards—I felt the easy buzz of the people hit me like a wave. This was a place where activity did not die down with nightfall, and from the looks of it, it was all only really getting started. The people here must have hidden from the heat during the day, with most of their trade—as evidenced by market stalls—and socialisation—as evidence by entertainers roaming the streets—happening at night. It was a place in which I felt immediately at home, like I could settle down here one day. But I was a long way away from settling down anywhere, what with the Council’s plan still barreling towards success. It was better to focus on the task at hand, and that was finding Yusef.

We’d still had our robes in our satchels, so we’d put them on before entering the city, hoping it would keep enemy eyes off us. What I’d not expected was that it would help us blend in quite so much; Yusef could only have been here a week, tops, and yet a huge chunk of the city seemed to have been converted to his cause. More people than not wore pale orange, and they greeted their fellow cultists with nods and broad smiles. Our best chance of finding Yusef? Ask.

I continued pushing through the ever-growing crowd.

The only problem was figuring out who was new to the cult, and who wasn’t. If we accidentally asked someone with experience, perhaps some of the contingent who Yusef hadn’t left behind in Coldharbour, then they might recognise us as enemies. They might attack. And if they attacked, then there would be hundreds of cultists upon us within seconds. I knew by then that Yusef didn’t have the gift of prophecy, but he’d maybe been right about one thing: if we attacked him, then his horde of followers wouldn’t let us live to see the sun rise. We’d need to be careful.

Just then, I felt someone brush past me, and something tingled in the back of my mind. There was something about that brush that hadn’t felt natural, something almost imperceptibly different to the feel of all those others who’d squeezed by.

My heart jumped when I realised what it was. Something I’d done plenty of in a past life.

I whipped my hand to my chest, finding my tunic sliced, and far more importantly, a complete lack of artifact dangling from my neck. ‘Stop!’ I shouted, reaching forward where I thought the pickpocket had run, but the crowd was bustling, eddying this way and that. There was no way of knowing for sure who had stolen the Sisyphus Artifact.

I came to an abrupt halt, the city beginning to spin around me. I’d had that artifact with me for so long. I’d come to depend upon it. I’d taken it for granted. And now it was… gone? Just like that?

‘Styk?’ Val, who had been closest to me, asked. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘The artifact,’ I replied, my voice shaking. ‘Someone’s taken it.’

Val moved around me to look into my eyes, studying me. ‘You know who?’

I shook my head.

‘They know we’re here. We should get off the street.’ Val nodded to Arzak to gather the others, then led me by the arm down the nearest alley.

As she dragged me along, I felt the city still spinning around me. It almost came as a surprise to find that we’d stopped. I looked around, seeing Arzak and the others some way down the alley from the rest of us; Val wanted to speak to me alone.

‘Val, I need it back. I can’t be without it.’

‘It’s gone, Styk. In a city like this? It’s gone. You won’t see it again. We need you to get your head around that sooner rather than later, if we’re gonna survive.’

I shook my head. ‘I could die.’

‘You didn’t have any charges on it; you could’ve died anyway.’

‘Then I’ll get one. I’ll get the artifact back, and then I’ll get a charge. We’ll kill Yusef. I’ll get a charge, and then I’ll be safe.’

Val stared into my eyes, and I got lost in her own—deep, brown, gorgeous—for a moment. Part of me wanted to kiss her, then, but I knew the instinct was built on a lie; with part of me so recently snatched away from me, I wanted something else familiar to take its place.

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‘You know why I left?’ Val finally asked.

‘Because my mum’s a Player,’ I replied. There was no point talking around this. If we were going to have this conversation now, of all times, then we might as well have it properly.

‘No. Because I thought you might be turning into one of them. Not just a Player, but a Player. The ones we hear about. I’m under no illusion that there are more Players out there than we stumble across, but some of them are living nice, peaceful lives. Maybe they’re even helping people. I’m not worried about you becoming like them, I’m worried about you becoming like Yusef. Like Jacob. Like Niamh. To tell you the truth, before I left, I thought I’d have to kill you before you killed me.’

I took a step back. ‘That’s… quite the admission?’

‘I’d never do it, obviously,’ Val replied. ‘Obviously. It’s you. But that was how my messed-up brain reacted to the news. I panicked. I’m not saying I’m perfect—we all know I’m so far from it—but you’re not exactly perfect either, Styk.’

‘You’re still worried,’ I said, picking up on her earlier wording.

‘Yes.’

‘After all I’ve done? Why?’

‘It’s precisely because of what you’ve done,’ Val hissed, sparing a glance back down the alleyway, not just at our friends, but at any other onlookers. ‘All this talk of being heroes, of power, of fame.’

‘It’s not about power and fame, it’s about doing the right thing.’

‘Yet you seem to want to do the right thing very loudly, not quietly. You want the fame. You want people to look up to you.’

I furrowed my brow. ‘Don’t you? Isn’t that part of being alive?’

Val shook her head. ‘Not like that. Look, Styk, I love you. You know that. I’m pretty sure you love me too. But I can’t be with someone going down this path. I won’t.’

I took the opportunity to kiss her, then—everything else be damned. Val returned it for a second, and then broke off, eyes widening.

‘What?’ I asked her. ‘You’re surprised I’ve forgiven you for leaving? I suppose I was surprised too, when I realised a few days back. But I knew what I was getting into with you. I knew it was going to be a bumpy ride.’

‘I didn’t think you were the kind of man to let things like that go.’

‘Why not?’

Val shrugged. ‘I don’t know, it’s the opposite of what we’re told to do, isn’t it? Someone does something to hurt you, and you’re expecting to get them back. Hit them harder.’

‘There’s strength in forgiveness, too, Val,’ I told her. ‘Probably more strength in that than battling it out, even. So I choose to forgive. We don’t have to be on these manic paths of vengeance all the time. I’ve forgiven you for leaving; surely you can be big enough to forgive me something that I can’t even help?’

‘What did I just say, Styk?’ Val hissed back at me. She glanced over at Arzak, who was now looking anywhere but at us, and blushing. ‘It’s not your ancestry; I’d never hold that against you. It’s what you’re becoming.’

‘I’ll prove it,’ I replied. ‘But how? How do you want me to prove that I’m not going to change? That I’m not going to become like that?’

The witch considered me for a moment, her eyes meeting mine, our faces still close together. ‘Let it go, Styk. The artifact. Let it go.’

‘No.’

‘No? You’d choose that over me?’

I shook my head again. ‘It’s not like that. I wouldn’t choose anything over you, if we had a choice. But what we’re involved with—the Council, their schemes, their murders—it’s bigger than us. We need every weapon we can possibly get, and part of that is the Sisyphus Artifact. We’d be crazy to let that go.’

Val said nothing, but held my gaze.

‘I know you know that’s true,’ I added.

Finally, the witch sighed, and nodded. ‘Fine,’ she said, and turned away, returning to our friends down the alleyway.

‘Where are you going?’ I called after her.

‘To go find your bloody artifact,’ she said.

Against my better judgement, I smiled. We weren’t back where we were—there was a lot of work to do, on both our sides—but we’d communicated. I’d take that.

"Styk"

Level 20 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 52

Intelligence — 227

Dexterity — 137

Strength — 82

Wisdom — 76

Charisma — 50

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 61

Knifework — Level 45

Stealth — Level 26

Identification — Level 18

Needlework — Level 18

Abilities:

Stab III — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 50%.

Execution III — Attack a target while undetected for +300% 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.

Knifestorm — Lash out at all surrounding enemies in a tornado of blades, using either one or two daggers. All enemies with arm’s reach receive physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Throw III — Throw blades at great speed towards your enemy. Deal considerable damage to armourless area, with addition damage scaling with [DEX] and [STR].

Enhanced Portals — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a thirty yard radius. Support up to two pairs of portals at once. Uses mana to open portals only.

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.

Pocket Worlds — Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.

Silence III — Create a bubble of 20 yard radius in which sound is eradicated. Uses mana to cast, zero mana to maintain. You may only have one bubble active at any one time.

Saved Portals II — Select a location to “save” for future portals. Until your save point is moved, you may always open a portal here, even if it is beyond your current Local Portal range. Mana is used only upon opening the portal.

Portal Relay II - Up to ten small-scale portals can now be positioned stationary to an entity, and used to communicate sound. In addition, your standard portals may be used to communicate sound.

Stealth Attack III — Passive. 200% 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].

Gentle Step — Passive. Your footsteps are dampened on even the hardest of surfaces. Reduce noise of movement by 80%.

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

Improved Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of significantly higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +1,400%