“How can you read that?” Guinevere asked. “I’ve studied runes for most of my life and even I don’t know that many.”

“I got a title from the system as a reward for a quest,” I said with a shrug.

“And now you can just read runes like a book?” the mage asked sounding pissed. “That’s bullshit!”

“It is what is it is,” I responded. “I can’t detect any dangerous lifeforms in this cavern, we haven’t been attacked for the past twelve hours so we might be out of their hunting grounds for now.”

“So, what do we do?” Kira asked.

“Rest,” Guinevere said. “We need to catch up on sleep and make sure we’re ready. Take the time to explore and see if you can find anything useful around here.”

“What do you need from me?” I asked disinterestedly.

“Just make sure no threats approach without us knowing,” Guinevere told me.

“How do you even detect those threats?” the rogue asked. “Your way to accurate for it to just be one ability.”

“An ancient eldritch being from the void where souls go to be devoured when they die sits in my head and comments on the world around me,” I said my expression not changing an inch as I stared him in the face.

“Fine, don’t tell us,” he grumbled.

Since I wasn’t needed, I left them all to go explore. I needed a break from them, Guinevere I could handle but the others I couldn’t. After several months of being on my own for most of the time and always having people listen to and respect me, I’d almost forgotten what people were like. The past week or so of fighting had pushed me to my limits physically and emotionally and I needed a nap and rest away from people. I kept expecting them to put together who I was and try and kill me but they hadn’t yet.

I’m pretty sure they’ll try and kill Guinevere before they kill you, Voidra said.

“Do they really hate her that much?” I asked. That was another thing, being able to talk aloud and not have two separate conversations go on was something that really started to wear on me.

I’m not sure if it’s hatred, not real hatred, Voidra said. It’s like they’ve convinced themselves to hate her, they don’t hate you they just fear you.

He does walk around with a scowl on his face a lot, Karnen agreed.

“You’re a spirit of vengeance,” I said. “You’re in no place to judge.”

I looked around but no one was watching me. I started combing through the ruins, my Bestial Senses had a passive effect that let me smell magic and my nose was itching. Following the source of the feeling I looked up at the cavern walls. Spotting a small cave, I teleported up inside it. It was cramped and I had to crouch down but after crawling on my hands and knees for around ten minutes the ceiling eventually rose, and I was able to crouch. The cramped confines made me realize how much bigger I’d gotten since I’d come to this world. I hadn’t noticed it much other than my clothes being extra tight but now it was clearly evident. I was a brick house, picture a barbarian in your head; covered in scars, a big unkempt beard, long hair most of their body naked and with more muscles than you realize the human body has. I wasn’t a body builder but every muscle I had was defined and there wasn’t an ounce of fat on my frame, I guess it was lucky I was immune to exposure, or I’d have been freezing.

The feeling in my nose intensified and eventually I came into a room. There were stone workbenches carved into the wall and shelves that might once have held books but now they were covered in dirt and mushrooms grew along them. The smell of spores filled the room unpleasantly. I looked up and saw a massive enchantment. Pulling out my sketchbook I began copying it. It was slow going and I was running out of erasers, no idea where I’d get a replacement in this world.

As I copied it, I slowly began to understand the enchantment. Its complexity was awe inspiring, the enchantments I’d seen so far had been children’s drawings by comparison. The enchantments for adding bleeding to a weapon contained maybe at most four to five words, this was a five-page essay.

“This is what’s blocking the system,” I said.

So if you break it will you be able to use your abilities again? Karnen asked.

“No….” I said musing over the design. “This thing is only a piece of a larger whole, its connected to something else that’s giving it power. Think of this like a strand of webbing, you can break it yes but the spider will just replace it.”

But breaking one strand still lets the fly escape, would it stop the system block in this small area? Karnen asked.

That made me pause, it might do that. I could break the lines of the runes, presuming I survived the blast when the magic exploded. The system should be out in this area for a while. That left one question, did I want to leave? I still had a few months left before the next event, I wasn’t getting any rank points down here, but I was learning by studying Guinevere and how she fought. If I broke the enchantment, we’d all be able to see each other’s identification. There would be no hiding it then, I was the Warlord, and they’d try and kill me. The others would be easy to kill but Guinevere had a good chance of actually finishing me off.

“No,” I decided. “I promised Guinevere I’d get her and her party to the surface safely.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Wouldn’t breaking this enchantment do exactly that? Karnen asked.

“No, it would lead to a fight against me which is the opposite of safe for them,” I said with a vicious grin.

You know we can tell when you project false confidence right? Karnen said.

“That’s enough out of you,” I said. “I’m getting Guinevere and her party to the surface; I’ve been a lot of things in my life, a lot of them bad, but I’ve always kept my word.”

So, you need to kill the spider, Voidra said. Can you use this to find it?

“That,” I said pausing, “Is a good question.”

I started poking around and trying to focus on the itching sensation of magic. This room had two other tunnels branching off of it. I took the right one and followed it. The magic led me into another crafting room, this one had only one workbench. It was carved out of the stone and a few tools lay scattered across it.

Picking up the metal files and narrow chisels I was surprised to see them not covered in rust. I pressed my finger against the head of the chisel and yanked it back as it cut through my skin like butter.

“That is wicked sharp and strong,” I said examining the chisel more closely. There were runes engraved along its handle showing how it had survived for so long. This thing was able to carve through material above diamond toughness. The rest of the files and chisels were similarly inscribed. Putting them in my storage pouch I followed the tunnel until it came out overlooking the cavern, there were stairs leading down but they broke off about ten feet down leaving a seventy-foot drop to the floor below. I teleported down continuing in the direction I was sensing. There were dozens of tunnels leading around and the scent was hard to catch but I found it.

Looking back, I’d been feeling the presence of the magical trail for days, but it had been so weak I’d taken no notice of it. Now that I knew what it was there was a goal, we could work towards instead of just endlessly wandering, find the source of whatever was blocking the system and destroy it.

Returning to camp I leaned against the ruins of a stone wall and fell asleep. I was so exhausted I didn’t even have any dreams or recurring memories.

--

My eyes snapped open as I felt light footfalls approach me. My head jerked up and Guinevere took a step back.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to startle you… you’re a very paranoid sleeper.”

“I had a plant incident,” I said.

“I have absolutely no idea what that means,” Guinevere said shaking her head. “You’re a very strange man Ishmael.”

“You here to play another game of questions?” I asked.

“No,” Guinevere said. “Well, I do have some questions, you said you can feel the emotions of people. Why do you say my party hates me?”

“That been bothering you?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t it bother you to learn that the people you are closest too hate you?” Guinevere asked.

“You just described my childhood,” I said with a grin.

“And look how well reasoned and developed you turned out,” Guinevere pointed out.

“Touché,” I said nodding my head to her.

“To what?” Guinevere asked.

I guessed that hadn’t translated well. “It’s just a word that means I acknowledge your point,” I explained. “Very well princess, ask away.”

“Please stop calling me that,” Guinevere sighed. “It has political ramifications that go along with it. Part of the reason I think Kira hates me is that she grew up with Arthur. She never got over her feelings for him, but my uncle insisted we marry and she blamed me for it instead of him.”

“Whose your uncle?” I asked my brow furrowing.

Guinevere looked at me like I was stupid. “King Arthur, everyone knows that. Seriously, where are you from?”

“Wait,” I said holding up my hand. “Back up, your marrying your cousin?”

“Yes,” Guinevere said frowning. “why are you surprised its perfectly common among the gifted.”

“No…. I think that’s a you thing,” I said.

Guinevere crossed her arms. “So, your saying where your from… Missouri that people don’t marry their cousins.”

“I did NOT say that,” I corrected her. “But it isn’t socially acceptable.”

“Why not?” Guinevere asked. “How would you make sure abilities in the family remain pure.”

“Whoa their princess,” I said holding up my hands. “Let’s not bring purity into this I’m starting to feel like I’m in Alabama.”

“Where is Alabama?” Guinevere asked exasperated.

“Close to Missouri, when people joke about cousins getting married in my country that’s where we say they’re from. Its where we think of when we think of stereotypical backwards, inbred hillbilly.”

“You keep bringing up words I have no context for,” Guinevere said. “What’s a hillbilly?”

“You can get that one from context,” I said.

“Well, this isn’t Alabama,” Guinevere said. “And here it’s perfectly normal.”

“Sure it is,” I agreed. “That’s why all the commoners also marry their cousins.”

Guinevere was silent.

“They don’t do they?” I asked.

“No,” Guinevere admitted grudgingly.

“Do you at least love this man?” I asked.

“His name is Arthur, and yes I do,” Guinevere said defiantly.

Lie, Voidra said.

“You forgot I could tell people’s emotions,” I said. “Well, I’m glad you’re at least not enthused about marrying your cousin.”

Guinevere got to her feet. “I didn’t come here to be mocked you know.” She turned around and began to storm off.

“I found the way out,” I said.

She stopped. “What?”

“A magical trail, there are a series of enchantments around this place blocking out the system, I’ve found a thread that will lead us back to the source,” I explained.

Guinevere turned around and sat down again breathing out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry forgetting upset at you, I’m just not used to being teased.”

I shrugged. “Hey its your life, if you think this is the best choice for your life I’m not going to judge you…. Ok I’ll judge you a little.”

Guinevere smiled and shook her head. “I do love him you know.”

“Sure,” I agreed, “but as a cousin. Let me ask you this if you had the choice to marry anyone would you pick him?”

Guinevere was silent and she subtly looked back at her party who were busy and out of earshot. “No,” she admitted. “My father didn’t want me to marry Arthur either for political reasons, but I am a noble of Camelot. I have privileges given to me because of my station that common people don’t have. I can’t just toss aside every privilege I’ve ever been given I have to do what is best for my people.”

“Very noble of you,” I said.

“It’s not very fun though,” Guinevere admitted. “My father hasn’t spoken to me since and has basically pretended I didn’t exist. The only thing he insisted on was picking the members of my party.”

“And they are such stellar choices,” I agreed.

Guinevere smiled again. “I wouldn’t have picked them either, but they are actually very accomplished adventures. They’ve been trained by my father since they were children.”

“Weren’t you trained by your father too?” I asked. “That is some serious quality variation there.”

Guinevere actually laughed the first time I’d heard her do so since meeting her. The heads of each of her party members jerked towards us showing it must have been a surprise for them too.

“You say I’m not in love with Arthur,” Guinevere said changing the subject. “How do you know? What’s love like too you?”

I was silent. “It’s wanting to spend every day with them, to sacrifice everything you have for them. When they’re around you don’t want to look at anything else and your heart beasts faster in excitement just to be around them.”

“I’ve never felt that way about anyone,” Guinevere admitted her shoulders drooping.

“I hope you do one day princess,” I said.

“You’re not going to stop calling me that are you?” Guinevere asked.

“Nope,” I agreed with a quick grin.