The cloudy shroud felt cool against Nathan’s burned skin as he passed through the archway. His vision went dark before lighting up in the massive chamber before him.

Sconces of the dim, glowing green moss were placed sporadically along the curved walls of the arena. Spear-like columns rose to varying heights from the tiled ground. Some reached all the way to the vaulted ceiling. They were made of cracked marble, with small trails of the same moss and ivy crawling up their length.

Spread throughout the room, more plentiful than the columns, were dozens of altars, statues, and headstones. The place looked like a forgotten catacomb. And sitting in its center, apparently unaware of Nathan, was a mountainous figure of pale bone and decaying flesh. It sat still as death, stooped over a recess in the ground.

Is it even alive?

[Keeper of the Crypt – Lvl. 29]

Yes. Yes, it is.

Cleo and Saleh followed close behind Nathan, passing through the shroud right after him, ready for battle. The three spread out without a word, Saleh in the center, an assassin on either side.

An enormous wedge of steel hung from the keeper’s rotten backside. It did not shine in the dim green light, its steel long since rusted over. How long had Arnold said this dungeon had lain untouched? Forty years? Fifty? Had this creature been sitting there the whole time, unmoving?

Nathan shuddered thinking of how much his old joints would have ached had he done the same.

“Are you up to date on your shots, Cleo?” Nathan whispered.

Cleo turned to him, crouching low to the ground, a look of bewilderment on her face.

“You might have to give it a big smooch.”

“Piss off,” the assassin hissed, turning her gaze back to the monster before them.

All three stopped behind a particularly large statue of some man with his arms spread out. Possibly in prayer or supplication. The head of the statue was broken off at the neck, a patch of glowing ivy dripping down from it like green blood.

Nathan peeked his head around the statue real quick, but the keeper had not moved. “What’s the plan?” he asked, keeping his voice hushed. “That doesn’t look like a fight we want to take blindly.”

If the keeper turned out to be able to cast some sort of spell or ability, perhaps he should strum the thick chord in his chest, but the thing looked more a melee fighter. Giving himself a strong wave of nausea for something that might do nothing in the fight did not sound worth it.

“No,” Saleh said, hand on his chin. “No, it does not.”

“How about this? You order it to pucker up with your funny word magic,” Nathan said to Saleh. “Then Cleo kisses it and makes it disembowel itself.”

Cleo did not look impressed, but Saleh was cracking a grin.

“As silly as that is, it could work,” said Saleh.

“Really?” asked Nathan.

“Parts of it anyway,” Saleh said, nodding. “The potency of my words depends on multiple things, one such being how strong my target is, another being the intensity of the command. I doubt I can force the Keeper of the Crypt to do much for long, but I could certainly slow it down by forcing it to resist my commands.”

Cleo anxiously clenched and unclenched her fists, her mouth squirming.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“What?” Nathan grinned. “Don’t like the idea of making out with ol’ crypty over there?”

She glared up at him, then let out a sigh. “No. But that’s not what’s worrying me.”

“Then what is?”

Cleo took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then let it out. “If we’re making a plan, that means I have to reveal more about what I can do.” She paused, Nathan and Saleh both staring at her with baffled looks on their faces. “I don’t like the idea of that. It’s… embarrassing.”

It took Nathan a moment to gather his thoughts and speak. “Really?” he asked, almost laughing at it all. “That’s what makes you nervous? You? Not fighting a twelve foot tall skeleton with a metal door for a sword? But letting people in?”

“And? What of it?” she snapped, a strand of hair falling in front of her face. “You don’t understand.”

He couldn’t stop himself now. He doubled over, clutching his stomach as laughs escaped his lips. Luckily, they weren’t loud enough to make the keeper aware of their presence.

Cleo, his mortal enemy. Cleo, the woman whose face could strike the fear of death into the most hardened of criminals back on earth. Cleo, the assassin of almost unparalleled skill, was scared of letting the people in and telling them what her abilities were because she was… embarrassed.

Nathan wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and flicked it away. Cleo was glaring daggers at him, one lip curled into a deadly snarl. If looks could kill, Nathan would be six feet in the ground.

Saleh, on the other hand, was smiling at the two, also having let loose a few small laughs. The pale man tried to comfort her by laying a hand on her shoulder, but she quickly slapped it off.

“Did you forget about the bolt I put in your arm?” she growled menacingly.

“I did not,” Saleh said. “But if it is of any comfort, you do not have to reveal any specifics. Just the basics of what you can do and how it could help.”

Cleo let out a sigh and finally relented. “Fine. But then you have to do the same,” she said, looking at Nathan.

“Don’t worry,” Nathan said. “I will.”

Cleo brushed the hair out of her face, then continued. “Okay. The abilities themselves aren’t that embarrassing in all honesty. Just the idea of… letting others know what I can do – I don’t like it. I’ve never done it before and I don’t want to start now, but I suppose I will if I must.”

She leveled a glare at Nathan. “First is my controlling ability, you both have seen it already. I just have to kiss a wound that I made on an enemy and I can control it. A kiss on the arm and I control the arm, a kiss on the leg and I control the leg. I haven’t tested any sort of chest or head yet. I’m not sure what that would do.”

Saleh nodded, his expression growing darker. Nathan could tell he didn’t like the idea of Cleo controlling his arm. Who would?

Clearly, Cleo noticed Saleh’s hesitations as well. “Don’t worry,” she said to him, a cruel grin on her face. “It’s already worn off for you.”

“Control classes are rare,” Saleh mused. “I had thought you placed some sort of tracking on me, or perhaps a failsafe that could destroy my arm in the event I turned on you. That is powerful indeed. The two of you continue to delightfully surprise.”

“Don’t you also have a control class?” Nathan asked. And a stronger seeming one at that.

“Yes,” Saleh said, a green twinkle in his eye from the glowing moss on the statue.

“Anything else?” Nathan asked Cleo. “No offense, but that wasn’t particularly embarrassing. Do you have anything juicier?”

Cleo regarded him with a cold sneer that matched her cold eyes. She was familiar with his prodding – she’d dealt with it for many decades, but she had never gotten used to it. “I have another ability, but I doubt you’ll find it juicy.”

“Out with it then. No secrets among friends.” Nathan figured that one of these days he would get her to snap. He hadn’t succeeded in his past life, but thankfully fate had deemed his noble cause worthy of a second try. And he would not let fate down.

Cleo thought about it for a moment, but then shook her head. “No. Not right now. The two of you knowing about it would not affect the coming battle anyway.”

Just what are you hiding? But there wasn’t much he could do to force the answer out of her, especially not now with the big keeper nearby. She could keep her secrets if she so pleased.

“And you, Colonel?” Saleh asked.

“Still keeping that bit going, huh?” Nathan asked, looking toward Saleh’s grin. “Very well.”

Nathan told the two of them only the basics of his abilities. He conveniently left out the fact that once the Echoes disappeared, he gained a permanent percentage increase to some of his stats, as well as the Aspiring ability all together. Aspiring wouldn’t be of any use in this fight anyway, he still had a while to wait until its cooldown was up.

***

“So, the plan is settled,” Nathan said, peeking up over the top of the statue and then dropping back down. In all that time, the Keeper of the Crypt hadn’t moved a single rotted muscle. “Myself and a lunar lynx Echo will distract the bastard while Cleo sneaks around and Saleh supports from afar. Then, when Saleh deems the timing right, he commands with everything he has for the keeper to halt. You still think you can still it for three or so seconds?”

Saleh nodded, his face hard, ready.

“Good. Then Cleo gets to do the fun part.” Nathan winked.

Cleo glared at him, eyes hard, but then let out a sigh and shook her head. “Shoot it and kiss it.” She waved a hand in the air as she got to her feet. “I know… I know…”