Chapter

Mikel concluded his story and took a swig of beer Helsket poured for him after the two older men returned early from their foray, loaded with packages and bags of things Telgil needed for his shop.

There was no mention of a brothel visit.

Their happy, even moods turned black as Mikel told them what he’d been up to since the three had parted ways.

“A lich - my gods,” Helsket mumbled as he drank from his mug, the foam sticking to his mustache like rainbow pearls, “You actually talked to one and didn’t die.” He shook his head, “You are your father’s son - I’ll give you that. I thought only he could stir up trouble of that caliber. No one's reported on a lich in over two hundred years - to think, this one was hiding here in The Market all this time.”

Telgil nodded in agreement, strange, intense eyes locked on Mikel.

“And that was all the lich said? That he was going to keep an eye on you and the little bit of knowledge he passed on?” Telgil was usually straight to the point, but Mikel could feel a particular strength pushing off of him he hadn't detected before. The story about what had happened in the library had unsettled him, that was clear enough.

Mikel nodded, “I felt… Weird speaking to it. I couldn’t move. It was as if it had complete control over my body.”

“It did have complete control, that’s why,” Telgil said, “The lich is tightly attuned to the Spirit Node on the Ascendant Cross. Powerful Spirit users can do just what you described. You’re very lucky you didn’t die. It could have snuffed you out as easily as you might a kitten.”

Mikel could still feel the cold handprint on his neck and even through the warming effects of the beer, it persisted.

“And Librarian? What happened to her?”

Telgil shook his head, “I’m not sure. I’ve already sent word to the watchers of the other gates in our area and beyond. Whatever is happening in there will need to be investigated - if the Knowledge Conceptuals are loose we have bigger issues than a bunch of dead bodies wandering around. The Conceptuals are normally Librarian’s agents in this world. They’re sent to peacefully gather knowledge. For them to turn… So dark is not good. The fact you killed one is interesting - they’re normally quite durable. I wonder if you got lucky, or there was another force at play?”

He rubbed his jaw and shook his head, “It matters not. People are already looking for the lich, but I doubt we’ll find it. Liches are notoriously hard to find once they infiltrate a population as they can flesh-craft their bodies to match almost anything or anyone. It could be one of us, for all we know.”

“Quit that,” Helsket said and sloshed some beer at Telgil.

The smith smiled and wiped a thick cloth napkin across his arm where Helsket had splashed him.

“You’re always such a child! I can’t believe you’re still alive,” Telgil admonished.

“It’s part of my charm,” Helsket said with a grin, “Don’t you know it?”

Telgil rolled his eyes and turned back to Mikel who was growing increasingly agitated.

“Mikel, what do you think happened to Librarian?”

He shook his head - he’d been trying to piece it together since the encounter with the lich but kept coming up blank. He’d liked Librarian and wanted to help her however he could - at the moment though there wasn't much he could do.

“Like I said - she told me to run and then… Nothing.”

“When you say she told you,” Telgil said, pointing at Mikel, “Did you hear her as you had been or was there another way the message was transmitted to you?”

Mikel furrowed his brow - he hadn’t thought of that.

Had she spoken to him? Or… Had something else happened?

Run.

The way the command echoed in his mind hadn’t sounded like spoken words - but he hadn’t noticed until now.

“She might have… I don’t know how to describe it,” He held a finger up to his head and tapped the side of his skull, “Spoken directly to me.”

“As if she was in your mind?” Telgil asked, nodding.

Mikel had suspicions about whether Librarian could read his mind, and Telgil knew something he didn’t.

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“Can she… Read minds?”

Telgil nodded, “Yes, and it was her last act to tell you to run. The fact that she wasn’t able to contact you after indicates she was somehow disrupted at a very basic level. She isn’t dead - you can’t kill someone like her, but you can shut her down for a bit.”

Mikel mentally exhaled - Librarian's safety had been his concern since he’d fled the library. It was a relief to hear she couldn't be taken out so easily. He’d enjoyed their conversations… Even if she’d sent him through The Dread.

“The lich said it was me - that I caused whatever happened to her. Is that… true?” Mikel asked, hesitation plain in his voice.

Telgil shook his head, “Not in my mind. From what you told me there was very little you did in there that others haven't done since the library was discovered. The fact you were able to leave with books, notes, and a monitor is a bit strange - but not something I’d chalk up to hurting Librarian with.”

The pile of books Mikel had retrieved as well as the black slate monitor and the wooden box he’d gotten from killing the Knowledge Conceptual sat on the dining table where previously Telgil's black test box had been.

Both older adventurers had combed over the items before setting them in a pile, to be forgotten until then.

“Should I take them all back and toss them into the library before I go? Is it bad I have this stuff?”

“No. It’s not bad and you couldn’t even if you wanted to. The doors are sealed to the library until we can figure out what went wrong. We can’t have the Conceptuals getting out. As I mentioned, they’re generally very durable and even one could cause a fair amount of damage before it was corralled.”

“And the box I got from killing the first one I saw?”

“Open it and find out.”

Many monsters, creatures, and constructs on The Continent were made entirely, or with a majority, of Essentia. When they were destroyed or killed, when conditions were right, the leftover Essentia and any physical materials from the creature would coalesce to form an item or items that could be taken as a prize by the adventurer lucky enough to kill them.

Generally, the bigger, scarier, and more powerful the creature, the better the prize. That wasn’t always the case though, and there were many stories of adventurers taking down extremely dangerous quarries only to be rewarded with a trinket, a small gem, or nothing at all.

Mikel knew the Knowledge Conceptual he’d killed wasn’t high up on the totem pole of dangerous creatures, but he was curious about what was in the box. He knew things could appear after you killed creatures - but he was unaware they popped up in boxes.

“Do I just… Slide the lid off?”

Telgil nodded, “Yes. Generally, if treasure spawns from a kill it will be loose on the ground or if you have the proper magical items to draw in such loot, the items can spawn directly within those magical items. A dimensional bag is an ever-popular choice for adventurers, and if you’d had one this box would have materialized there instead of on the ground.”

“Makes sense,” Mikel said, picking up the box.

It was light, hollow, and had something rattling around inside of it.

He shook it gently then looked at Helsket who shrugged, “Probably just a gem or something. Better than nothing at any rate. You just wait - Soon enough you’ll kill a big beastie and you’ll get bupkis for it. You’ll understand the pain of adventuring right then and there. When you’re bloody, tired, and have dead or injured friends all around you, and all you have to show for it is an empty hand… Well, it isn’t a good feeling.”

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Mikel said, shaking the box again, “Luckily I don’t have to worry about that this time. Well, except for Librarian, but if what Telgil says is true, she's still alive, but somehow shut down.”

With careful precision, he slid the top of the box back and tipped the hollow container into his other hand.

What came out confused him.

A solid, gray, bean-shaped object sat in his hand. It was lusterless, cold to the touch, and very smooth, as if it had been polished by a thousand-thousand swipes of emery cloth.

He put the box down and pinched the bean-shaped object with his free hand and held it up to Telgil.

“Any ideas?”

Telgil held out his palm and Mikel dropped the bean into it.

The smith closed his massive hand over the object and shut his eyes before speaking.

“One of my oldest Skills allows me to identify objects. I can tell their magical properties, abilities, uses, and drawbacks. In some cases, I can even discern the market value of a particular item if the fates align correctly.”

Mikel watched as Telgil centered himself and then muttered something that sounded like “Reveal Your Secrets to the Master of the Emerald Forge.”

Light emitted from behind his closed eyes and flowed to his palm, where it gathered under his sealed fingers and bled out between each gap.

Moments later the light dimmed away to nothing and Telgil opened his eyes with a puzzled expression on his face.

“It says it’s an earpiece - but for what I can’t say. All I got was that it's already connected to Mikel and that he can use it to communicate. With whom, I can’t say. Why? I can’t say.”

He held out the earpiece to Mikel before he shook his head a final time and glowered, “I don’t like questions I can’t find the answers to, young Raithson,” Telgil said, “I’m a man who discovers things - not a man who is confused by things.”

“You’re just too proud,” Helsket said, sipping his beer, “I’ve seen you confused lots of times for less reason than that little bean. It always makes me chuckle. Never fails.”

“Shut up, Helsket,” Telgil growled, “If you weren’t a guest in my house I’d-”

“What?” Helsket asked, standing up, “You’d attack me? Too late for that pal! Remember the rumble in the street? This is round two!”

It was Mikel’s turn to groan as the two massive men leaped to the center of the room and began grappling, yelling, and spitting at one another. If there had been any question if either of the two was the lich in disguise, the query died with the first punch thrown.

Mikel downed his beer, grabbed the pile of books, the slate, and the earpiece, and went to his room. He hoped to study the items a bit closer but would settle for a bit of sleep if he could steal a few minutes.