‘It is considered inappropriate to ask a client more details about the job than freely provided,’ Corminar said, as the crate shook again.
‘Ina…’ I started. ‘Inappropriate? You get in bed with the Red Thorn, of all people, and you don’t ask what you’re stealing for them?’
The elf’s lip curled.
‘It could be anything. Who knows what power you could be giving them? Who knows what—’
‘Be that as it may,’ Corminar interrupted, ‘it does not change the situation. We will continue as planned, and then—’
‘And then we figure out what’s in this thing before we hand it over,’ Val said, cutting him off. When the elf looked to be about to complain, she added, ‘And if we don’t end up handing it over, you’re just going to have to deal with looking over your shoulder until they forget about you.’
‘Should that be the case, the deal will be off.’
‘No it won’t, Cor. After this, either way, you’re coming with us.’
The elf ranger huffed, but said no more on the matter; he wasn’t so detached from reality to really think he was in the right, here.
‘Alright,’ Val said, grabbing at the side of the box. ‘How heavy is this thing? How far can we…’ She groaned as she picked it up off the ground, placing it back down a few moments later. Whatever was inside sounded like it didn’t enjoy being moved.
Corminar nodded to me. ‘How much use will he be should it come to a fight?’
‘I’m standing right here,’ I said, at the same moment as Val said, ‘Not much. He doesn’t even have a knife.’
The ranger raised his eyebrow.
‘A portal chopped it in half,’ I clarified.
The eyebrow didn’t lower any at this explanation, but the man reached into his belt, pulled out a long, thin knife, and threw it to me. I was lucky enough to catch it by the hilt, and not the blade.
Item Equipped — Ranger’s Blade
Ranger’s Blade — +25% to Dexterity when using Ranger’s Blade.
‘Thanks,’ I said, not offering up that the Dexterity bonus was essentially useless to me, with my current build; I was just happy to be armed.
‘The worldbender will escort the crate to the exit, using his alteration magicks to move it. Val—you and I will scout ahead, ensuring we keep out of sight.’
‘Fine,’ I said, raising my hands. ‘Shall we?’
‘Wait,’ Val said, ‘what about…’
I opened a portal over on the opposite balcony—our route of entrance and exit—and another below the crate, and a great purple glow shone out from both, illuminating the otherwise dim courtyard as the box fell through. Outside, shouts erupted from the guards we’d passed by earlier; the glow hadn’t gone unnoticed.
‘...that,’ Val finished.
Corminar held up an index finger in thought. ‘I have… a second plan,’ he said.
‘...Yes?’
‘Run.’
The three of us bolted for the balcony, hopping up onto its stone wall perimeter, and I opened another portal ahead of us, bringing my mana reserves down already to about a third of maximum. As arrows flew over our heads, we passed through the purple spiralling clouds that formed the portal, and landed on the opposite balcony.
Of the three of us, only Corminar landed on his feet. Val slammed into the side of the box, her resulting grunt echoed by the creature or creatures inside, and I knocked my head on the top of the doorframe, before falling to the floor.
‘Perhaps I can offer training in elegance,’ Corminar said, before drawing his bow and firing a shot back at the guards who pursued us. From the cry of horror that followed, one of the arrows hit its mark.
I hopped back to my feet and led the charge into the hallway, meaning to get myself into a position to portal the crate along the length of it, back to the window from which we could reach the rooftop. Instead, however, I ploughed straight into the broad chest of a guard clutching a sword that was possibly longer than my entire body.
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‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Hi…’
Two more guards stepped out of the shadows at his side.
The two groups of three stared one another down, just for a moment, before everyone swung into action. Corminar fired a shot into the neck of one of the flanking guards, felling him in one, while Val whipped up a gust of dust that caught the other two—and me—in the eyes. Blinking, the largest of the remaining guards swung his longsword blindly in my direction, and I ducked just in time to avoid a rather extreme haircut.
Crouching, I flung one hand behind me, in the direction of the courtyard, and the other below the feet of myself and the guards. In the second before I opened another portal, I dived out the way, and the two guards fell through the portal and into the air above the courtyard.
Level 15 mercenary defeated!
Worldbending — +400xp
One of the guards landed with a worrying crunch on the tiled ground, but the other one… didn’t.
The broad guard instead reached his hands out and wrapped his thick fingers onto the side of the balcony, and with a heavy grunt pulled himself up. Corminar fired an arrow into the man’s shoulder—and the guard didn’t even seem to notice.
‘Time to go, I think,’ Val said.
I reached one hand towards the crate on the balcony, the other to the other end of the long corridor, and—
The guard picked up the crate above his head—doing so with ease, I might add—and looked to throw it at us. I thought fast, opening one portal down the end of the corridor, and another in the air between us and the guard. The crate sailed through the paired portals, and…
Hit the wall at the far end of the corridor with a crash.
The voices inside went deathly silent, and the guard’s eyes widened. ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘That wasn’t…’
If the sudden silence combined with the wide eyes wasn’t enough to tell us to be scared, we were convinced when the otherwise fearless guard turned and leapt from the balcony.
Val, Corminar and I turned slowly to face the crate at the end of the corridor. Even at this distance, I could see that it was no longer in perfect condition, one of the six sides knocked away by the smash against the wall.
A single, three-inch creature crawled forth from the shadows, and my heart dropped, my skin began to crawl, and every instinct I had told me to expel the contents of my stomach. It was a being akin to an inkblot—deathly black in its appearance, a blob that protruded as many limbs as it needed at any particular moment. In this moment, two “arms” sprung forth to drag it along the floor towards us.
‘I repeat, Corminar: just what in the hells is in that thing?’
It wasn’t the ranger who replied, though. It was me; the man who’d seen them before. The man who’d lost near everything to them. ‘A mala,’ I said.
‘A…’ Val started, trailing off when she placed the name.
‘And what would that be, pray tell?’ Corminar asked.
‘Oh, I’ll tell you, I replied. But first thing’s first, we have to—’
‘Get out of here?’ Val suggested, already fleeing for the door.
‘No.’ I shook my head, but it was the firm tone to my voice that caused Val to come to a halt.
‘No?’ she asked. ‘No? That’s a Mala, Styk. We stick around here, and we’ll—’
‘We have to kill it. We can’t let it come loose. Not here. Not in a city. It’ll…’ I found myself unable to complete the thought. To think of what it would do, to this many people in such close proximity… I couldn’t help but remember Ceah, and what the Mala had done to her. What it had made her do. What it had made me do, to put her out of that unimaginable misery.
Sorry—I know this isn’t exactly maintaining the light tone I’ve been trying to stick to as I recount my story, but it’s the truth. And sometimes, amongst the fun and the escapades, there are moments like this: moments where the world’s infinite ways to horrify are made all too clear, or where we’re forced to relive echoes of tragedies past. I’ll try to keep it light—I really will—but where the Malae are involved… there really isn’t any getting around that.
I’d trailed off, but Val nodded; she understood where I was going with this. ‘Alright,’ she said. ‘Kill it. How?’
‘Fire,’ I replied. ‘It’s the only way. Don’t suppose you have a fire spell in your repertoire?’
Val shook her head. ‘No fire. I can’t conjure it, at least. But if I had a source, I do have some wind magicks…’
I nodded. ‘That’ll do.’ With that, I stared down the Mala, approaching slowly, steadily, wetly, as it dragged itself down the corridor, and I downed one of Corminar’s mana vials.
"Styk"
Level 6 Novice Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 10
Intelligence — 23
Dexterity — 15
Strength — 27
Wisdom — 10
Charisma — 0
Skills:
Knifework — Level 12
Identification — Level 5
Worldbending — Level 4
Stealth — Level 2
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR].
Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.
Local Portal — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight. Uses mana/second.
Basic Stealth Attack — Passive. 10% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +400%