The car pulled to a stop. As smooth as the ride had been, the stop came with a jarring halt. At its back three adventurers staggered, then caught themselves in a sway. Seth was not one of them. Instead, he placed a hand on his rifle case to keep it from falling.

They exited the car, Seth and his companions dismounting like vagabonds scaling a particularly short fence.

There was nothing but rocks and mountain range around them as far as the eyes could see. What little of the forest encroached on these parts were naught more than dying weeds and stubborn grass. Each one forced its way through cracks in the rocky soil. They were the destitute striving to survive in a land that did not want them.

Seth turned to the entrance of the mountain’s crevice. Outside the sun continued its path to death, hopeful for its cycle of rebirth in a few hours, casting them in its dying orange. But that was outside. Inside, within the soulless embrace of the mountain, darkness smiled.

“A little pep talk before we go in,” Nosam said, turning to them so that his back was to the mountain. “We’ve taken a contract to find a missing artifact in a cleared nest. Now, mind you, while it has been cleared it doesn’t change the fact that it was a silver nest. Which means…”

“There’ll be Iron rank beasts lurking around.” Scott said. “Scavengers looking for spoils.”

“In the worst case, we might even run into something of silver rank.”

Seth stood motionless as they talked. His mind was clear now. Gone was the touch of confusion and pain he’d been subjected to for most of the ride. Now his mind was as clear as a gentle breeze on a noisy night.

Standing so far from the entrance to the nest, he flared his awareness and tested its reach. Without surprise he found fifteen feet still his limit. If he pushed himself, perhaps an inch or two would be achievable. He did not.

He retracted his attention back to his team and waited for Nosam to finish wasting his words. Pep talks were for the weak and disillusioned. A mage who needed a touch of motivation to function properly had no right standing before a nest let alone entering one.

Nosam’s words were filled with the inspiration of the noble. He spoke of courage and care. Subtlety and teamwork. There was a sermon in there colored with a touch of religious sentiment. Something about the possibility of death and a need not to fear it for it was only the beginning of another path.

It seemed their leader believed in a life after.

Seth did not begrudge the adventurer his sentiment. However, there was a touch of disappointment in the entire speech. Nowhere in it had there been any useful piece of information. Not even a description of what they were looking for.

Seth raised a hand, drew attention to himself.

“Yes, Oden,” Nosam said, confused by the action.

“What are we looking for?” he asked.

“A pendant.”

“What does it look like?”

“It’s tied to a brown rope.”

He’s keeping secrets, a mind thought, displeased. Secrets are a good way to get people killed.

Seth agreed with the mind. If they didn’t know what they sought, they didn’t know what they were doing. Wandering in the dark with no factual reason was stupid. Doing it in an enclosed nest was…

The realization of what was going on touched his mind gently.

Nosam was the only one with a contract to find whatever this pendant was. Theirs was a different contract. They were here to keep him safe until he found it. Their job was to make sure he came out alive.

“Does anyone else know what it looks like?” Seth asked.

Around him faces turned contemplative, embarrassed. None had bothered to ask and none knew. The level of nonchalance was absurd to see. How the adventurers around him had survived was beyond him. He’d only been an adventurer for a month but he knew these things. A nest must not be entered without proper information. A mission should not be taken without knowledge of its intended purpose.

A fancy lady should not be ploughed without an escape route…

Seth’s train of thought faltered, and he chided his mind for the distraction. Not that he disagreed with it. Then again, what did he know of fancy ladies.

He took a deep breath. Worry gnawed at his side at the visage of those around him now. He’d sowed doubt in them without the intent, lowered their confidence with simple words designed to garner useful information. It was not his intention but he was going to do worse.

“And what happens if you die?” he asked Nosam.

“Oden,” the still unnamed adventurer said with a touch of panic and a hand suddenly on Seth’s shoulder. “That’s not a good thing to say before entering a nest.”

“Especially an enclosed one,” Seth muttered under his breath.

These adventurers were deluded if they thought they’d all return alive.

“Don’t get worried on my account, Ned,” Nosam said with a smile. “He’s right. I might die in there. Unfortunately, the guild gave me strict instructions when they handed me this contract. I’m the only one allowed to know what I’m looking for. So if I die, all you should get out as fast as possible.”

A tense silence followed after his words. It was filled with the trepidation of the uncertain and the whisper of the sun’s dying light. No one pierced it. No one broke it. For a moment, just enough to blanket them like a wet coverall, they all let it win.

Then Joy broke it.

She was a girl with soft pink lips that matched the color of her eye and hair as brown as dirty linen.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“That’s a sullen way to start a contract.” Her voice was small but was loud enough to serve her purpose, like a girl who’d grown up complaining a little too much. “I say we forget this whole thing and get this started.”

With a huff and an annoyed glance at Seth she walked off, leaving them to follow behind.

Seth did not.

As the rest walked ahead, he bent and opened his case. He rested the case on the rough ground and took his rifle out piece by piece. He assembled each piece, linking one to the other with a practiced ease Emriss would’ve been proud of.

When he was done, he closed the case. He stood up and slung the rifle over his shoulder so that it rested at his back. With his two katanas left behind in his lodge and his twin blades strapped to his back, this was as armed as he was going to be.

New Quest: [Guard the Seeker]

You have been contracted to search for a lost artifact. You have also come to the realization that while you seek a lost artifact only one knows what it truly is. This has led you to understand that only one thing matters. The life of the seeker stands above all.

Objective: [Protect the seeker] 1/1

Reward: Observer’s Gaze

Consequence: Contract failure

Inside the nest they moved with the guidance of an orb of green light. It hovered above them like a mini sun. With it Nosam led them through the nest. Its light was tainted with flickers of brown and its green wasn’t sure what shade it wanted to be and every second it dimmed ever so slightly. Coupled with the uneven terrain, it made walking a mild task.

“Careful,” Nosam whispered and the dark void beyond them carried his voice with it. “Watch your steps.”

Fray stumbled not long after. She kicked a rock. It shifted her footing and broken her stride. Before she got a chance to right herself and prevent her fall, Scott was at her side,. Taking her by the forearm, he steadied her.

She turned an appreciative smile on him and pushed a strand of hair from her eye behind her ear. Scott returned the smile with one of his own, showing white teeth that were green under their orb of light. Nosam who’d stopped to look back nodded once before proceeding forward.

They walked forward after that, more cautious of the ground beneath their feet. Though they moved on as an acceptable team, Seth had caught the look on Fray’s face. A part of her had been glad for Scott’s assistance. Most of her had not. He had assumed her unable to save herself from such a mild error, or she at least thought that way. It left her with the embarrassment of almost falling. Whatever the truth was, Seth knew it no better than he knew how deep the nest went.

The path ahead of them revealed itself to the green light as they proceeded. Slowly, Seth left the back of the procession, making it past the rest of his team until he was a step behind Nosam. As he caught up, Nosam showed no sign of being aware of him.

They continued down the rocky nest of broken grounds and stony walls. Somehow their path continued to lead downwards despite starting at the foot of the mountain. They turned twice. Once at an intersection that led in opposite directions. Here Nosam guided them to the right. The second was more a curving path than a true turn. It curved like the blade of a poorly made scythe with an uneven blade beaten a bit too poorly or a bit too excessively. They followed it in silence until it came to a stop at a cliff.

He took a step towards the edge and looked down. Beside him Nosam folded his arms across his chest and frowned. His lips turned up in frustrated thought. Under the light his thinking face cast him like some villain in a poorly written novel. Not that Seth had read many.

Looking down the ledge Seth found it over a fifteen feet drop. twenty at the most. In the darkness it was difficult to gauge. The light above them could only cast its glow so far. It gave them sight as far as what was directly before them. The rest was claimed by the dark.

“How deep do you think it is?” Seth asked his minds.

Nosam stepped up beside him and looked down. “Too hard to tell. Maybe twenty feet. Could be more. But that’s where we need to be. Down there.”

Eighteen, a mind answered.

“That’s high,” Seth mused.

Nosam raised his head and looked to the side. “It is,” he answered in the distracted tone of someone no longer interested in the conversation.

Within the reach of his senses, Seth felt the young adventurer turn from side to side. Searching. His head remained down, staring at the void beneath him.

“Any idea what’s at the bottom?”

“It’s just rocky ground and maybe a few dead beasts,” Nosam answered, absently.

At the same time his mind thought, solid ground. We don’t think there’s even a drop of water down there.

Seth nodded. Solid ground was going to make this hard. He stood up straight, straightened to all five feet six inches of his height, then adjusted his rifle on his back.

You can’t be serious, his minds scolded.

Then Seth stepped off the edge.

He’d barely dropped the length of his body when he jerked to a stop. His shawl snagged around his face. It covered his mouth and, hardened as it was, it suffocated his nose. It held him up from his drop. snagged against something.

“Are you mad?!” Nosam snapped, holding onto the back of his shawl. There was a mild strain in his voice as he held him in midair with a single hand. There was something odd about it Seth couldn’t put his finger on.

Seth dangled helplessly. He would’ve said something if he could. Told Nosam it wasn’t that high a drop. But his shawl prevented him.

Nosam pulled him up to perceived safety and sucked in a deep breath.

“What were you thinking?” he asked as Seth picked himself up.

Seth adjusted his shawl, making sure it still protected his face. “It’s not that high.”

“Deep,” Pride corrected. “It’s not that deep.”

Seth conceded the point with a nod. “It’s not that deep.”

Nosam rubbed a hand over a flabbergasted face. “I’ve seen Silvers make a drop that high—”

“Deep,” Pride said.

Nosam shot him a glare. “But not Iron. You don’t just go jumping off high places.”

Inside his head Seth’s minds agreed. He ignored them as thoroughly as he gave Nosam’s words no attention. The boy was taking it a bit too far, blowing it out of proportion. But he did not point it out.

“So which way then?” he asked, instead. “How do we get down there?”

Nosam pointed off to the side.

Seth looked along with the rest of the team. In the darkness they saw nothing. A more focused look revealed nothing, still. If he couldn’t see it, how had Nosam seen it?

His thoughts ceased as another realization came to mind.

He turned to Nosam, away from what everyone else struggled to see. The boy had been leading them in the dark. He could claim he was using the light but his steps had borne no hesitation. Either he knew exactly where they were going and what path led there or he had a skill that helped him navigate the nest.

“There’s a ledge over there, if I’m not mistaken,” Nosam said. “If we take it, slowly, we should get to another road we can take.”

“Will it get us down there?” Dare asked.

“I have no idea. But it’s better than jumping off the edge.”

Each team member shot Seth a look. It ranged from frustrated to disgruntled. There was confusion in there somewhere, and he was sure he saw worry in Ned’s eyes.

Regardless, they took the ledge in easy strides, guided by their ever dying light. They were cautious as they traversed it. Seth hugged the wall, shuffling in the middle.

When they got to the other side they breathed a breath of relief. The existence of another path was something Seth wasn’t sure surprised him.

Either he’s been here before or he’s got some kind of night vision, a mind thought. What do we think?

Night vision, one answered at the same moment another thought, been here before.

He felt each mind face off moments before one thought, Wanna bet?

Hidden Objective: [Secret of The Silver Mage]

You have found an interest worthy of wagering dots of your supremacy on. Discover how the silver mage navigates the active nest and settle the score.

Objective: [Secret Discovered] 0/1

Reward: Increased Mental fortitude.

Consequence: Main Quest [Guard the Seeker] cannot be completed without completing Hidden Objective [Secret Discovered] 0/1.

“Shit!”