"What's wrong with my clothes?"

"They look terrible!"

"But they have better stats than anything I've ever seen before."

I went to inspect the items, and he was right. They had some of the highest stats I had seen so far. That was upsetting. It looks like the old adage was true here too. Sometimes you just found really ugly gear with great stats and wore it, no matter how stupid you looked.

"I still want to compare it to what we have back on the island."

"What island? Where is it? Is it a secret too? I'm really good at keeping secrets, like this one time a close friend of mine gave me a special item and told me to keep it secret, so I stashed it in a place so secret even I wouldn't know where to find it, and come to find out I was right, when he wanted it back I couldn't remember where I put it because I kept the secret even from myself, which is not something I recommend doing, and if you do do it, then you should like make a note somewhere. Oh, my gods I just said do do! Which reminds me of this one time..."

"Rutherford!"

He stopped and looked at me.

"You're rambling."

"Oh yeah, I do that sometimes, it's a really bad habit I have. They say it only takes seven days to start a habit, but it takes thirty days to break a habit, but thirty days is soooooo long to try to keep doing something, except like maybe eating or drinking, because, you know, you kinda have to do those things. Oh and breathing, and going to the bathroom, and..."

"RUTHERFORD!!!"

"Sorry..."

"We need to get going. We have a long way back to go to get to the meeting place with Al'Doran. Do you need anything before we go? I know it's a lot to ask to drag you along with us and just leave everything behind..."

Rutherford disappeared into his hut for a few minutes, and we could hear furious rummaging going on as though someone was running through the hut throwing things around. There were several crashes, what sounded like a chicken squawking, pots and pans banging together, and then Rutherford appeared in the doorway with a massive maul. It was flat on one end of the hammerhead, with a set of sharp spines forged on the other end of the hammerhead. It looked impossibly heavy for him to have been carrying, but he swung it up over his shoulder with ease. He had a small bag at his waist as well and smiled over at us.

"I'm ready whenever you are."

"There isn't anything else you need?"

"Nope! I don't keep many possessions because I tend to need to run off really fast to go heal someone. Since I have to leave so often, I haven't kept many things. So I can grab things and go in just a minute or two normally. Plus, bags of holding are pretty nice for storing most things and not needing to unpack them," He said patting the pack at his side.

"Well, alright then, let's get going."

We walked back the way we had come, getting close to the city we decided to stay one more night in the city and see if there was anything else we needed from the spell shop. It wasn't that it was really getting that late, we just had one more night's credit and we wanted to use it up so Patsy didn't feel bad about keeping our money, tying up some loose ends. I also wanted to check in with Harlow before we left, to see where the bigger problem was standing.

Walking into the city Commander Harlow was still near the front gate.

"Hey Commander, why are you here still near the front gate?"

"Callan! With the unrest growing, new travelers are getting harassed more often. Someone needs to be here to watch out for them. I seem to be the best someone."

"That doesn't sound right. Can't something be done about that?"

"The mayor is ready to expel him, but there are a lot of people following him and we aren't sure we can drive them all out."

"So, if we helped force them out you would be willing to get rid of him?"

"It's not that simple, my friend. If we just needed to throw him out of the city, we could have done that by now. The issue is that he has gathered quite a following. While we could likely still throw them all out, it would devastate the town. There wouldn't be enough people to continue running the town, and he has gathered some higher-ranking friends who are unhappy with the way things are going. Their numbers are becoming very influential, even to the mayor."

"I didn't realize he was having such an effect. I thought he was just a thug with some big guys behind him."

"Unfortunately, he has gathered support from some of the more influential guild leaders and merchants that are now pressuring the mayor. I'm not even sure what they hope to gain from it at this point. If they get the mayor to step down and he takes over, it will be total chaos in this city. He will have power and no restraint in using it against the people here."

"And if he were to, say, disappear, would the problem go away?"

"At this point I doubt it. The people following him would likely cause a riot trying to figure out what happened to him. I don't know that I see a good resolution to this issue at this point."

I really hated to hear this. It was beginning to feel like any move made would result in some form of violence, and while it would be beneficial to remove the root of the problem, there would need to be a way to restore what was lost from the backers that he had gained.

"Maybe we need to meet with Gregory to see what he has planned or if he can be reasoned with at all."

"I'm not sure that I would do that, he really hates you guys at this point."

"Have you got a better idea? It seems that you can just keep waiting, but it's going to blow up whether you like it or not."

Harlow didn't say anything to that.

"Where can I find him?"

"He has set up in a warehouse near the east end of town. There are thugs everywhere though."

"Leave that part to me. If he isn't willing to bring me into his web, then he is even dumber than I thought."

"But...are you sure...It could be dangerous."

"We will be fine. I don't plan to antagonize him. I just want to see what is driving him, what he is after. Then maybe we can come to some kind of agreement."

"Don't get in too deep Callan. I like you guys. I don't want to see you hurt."

"I doubt that will be the end result, but we are ready if need be. Besides, look who decided to join us."

I stepped aside and Rutherford walked forward bowing.

"This is great news indeed. I won't tell the others what you are doing. That will mean you won't likely be in trouble if they find out what happens, but it also means no one will come to help you if you get in too deep. So plan accordingly."

"Thank you, Commander."

I shook his hand and then we went east toward the warehouses. Walking through the town I got the sense we were being watched. And it was confirmed when Vokin said something to me.

"Ye can sense 'em right, Callan?"

"Yeah, I can sense them. Not that it matters. We are about to walk into their lair."

"True enough."

We continued on and pretended not to see the followers. More of them gathered as we went and it was soon hard not to see them around, glaring from behind buildings or down alleyways or from around boxes stacked here and there. Once we came out from the more cramped district with homes and business buildings and into the warehouse area, the thugs didn't even bother hiding anymore. They walked out in the open and stood trying to look threatening as we walked toward one of the biggest warehouses. I was worried at first about knowing which warehouse he might be in, but we were essentially herded toward one in particular that we had to assume was the one Gregory was in.

Walking toward the warehouse, the skies seemed to join in setting the mood for the scene to come. Clouds rolled in quicker than I would have thought normal, and they were dark clouds. Storm clouds to be precise. As they billowed in, covering the sun, I felt the first few drops of rain begin to fall lightly. The rain felt cool on my skin and as the rain began to fall more and more heavily it began to soak into my clothes under my armor. I couldn't help but think of some of the dark comics I read as a kid, showing warehouse districts where a superhero would track the leader of a crime syndicate to. Lighting flashed lightly and far off, followed by a small boom of thunder, the mood becoming even more ominous.

As we got to the doors we stopped and waited while some of the thugs opened the large sliding doors. Inside sitting in the near dark on a large pile of boxes that had been set up to look like a throne, was Gregory. More boxes had also been stacked to act like stairs to the makeshift throne. He was slouched to one side with a leg thrown over one side of the throne on top of a box and the other on the top makeshift step. He was grinning down at me with a predatory grin. He was overjoyed that we just walked into his home and handed ourselves up on a silver platter for him.

"Gregory," I said while nodding up at him, trying to wick some of the rainwater off of me with my hands.

"You really just thought you could come here and walk away?" Gregory said, waving his hands slightly for dramatic effect.

"All we want to do is talk. We just want to know what you have planned here. The town is going to fall into chaos and economic ruin if you keep going this way. What is it you really want here?"

"What do I want? Well, I guess there isn't any harm in telling you at this point. I want this town. It's all but mine at this point. The only thing holding me back is the mayor and that stupid Commander of the Guard. But I have almost all the backing I need to take the town by force. Soon I will be the mayor. Then we will grow from there. But you won't be here to have to worry about that. You won't be here to see what happens next."

He didn't even sit forward when he snapped his fingers. But I noticed something as he held his hand up to snap. The shadow behind him grew much larger than it should have.

"It can't be..."

That was all I managed to say before all hell broke loose. Fortunately, the team had been ready. The thugs almost poured out from the boxes in the room. If we had been out in the open, like outside the warehouse, we likely would have been completely overwhelmed. Instead, being inside the warehouse and having so many boxes stacked everywhere led to us being able to weave in and out of them taking on fewer enemies at once. They tried to climb over the boxes, but Vokin and Rutherford used their oversized weapons to smash the boxes they were climbing on and all that was left were piles of various shipped goods and box splinters making the climb nearly impossible with much more odd-shaped terrain. They didn't bother to climb them after that.

Tristan had cast Dark Shroud right at the start and was slinking around in the shadows waiting. Meanwhile, Vokin, Rutherford, and I were going to town on the rest while they came at us. Slashing, hacking, and smashing thugs. As they would fall, Tristan would raise the dead bodies up to as many as he could control to fight for us. In this fight, we were at an advantage with Tristan in that the bodies that fell almost all had weapons. So when he raised them back they fought with weapons as well, making them deadlier foes. This also had the added effect of making many of the thugs pause momentarily when they saw their comrades fall to a death blow, then rise right back up only to find they attacked them instead of us and staring at them with dead unseeing eyes as they struck.

Rutherford and Vokin were deadly forces. Rutherford whirled his maul around smashing faces, legs, arms, and even chests. Vokin slashed anyone who came within reach of his deadly axe. I helped with my black flaming sword, which many of the thugs didn't seem so keen to get too close to. Despite our efforts though, they were closing in on us. There were just too many of them. I was about to try casting a spell when I heard Rutherford yell out.

"DISPERSE!"

As he yelled this, he raised his maul over his head with both hands and slammed it into the ground. A shockwave rushed out from around us in all directions tossing all the thugs back at least thirty feet.

"Well, that's handy. But we have a bigger problem, I think Gregory is being controlled by something. I saw his shadow grow and move."

"Well, let's get over there then!" Vokin replied.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

We rushed past the bodies of the recovering thugs and over toward where Gregory was on his box throne. As we got close he stood up and held up his hand. A dark barrier appeared in front of him stopping our charge. Vokin slammed his axe into it and we could see a few spiderweb cracks from where he hit. He hit it again with his axe and the cracks spread slightly.

"That's going to take too long, keep them off me for a moment," Rutherford said.

Vokin and I turned to defense. I cast a quick grease spell on one set of charging thugs and grasping vines on another. The first set of thugs began sliding around and bumping into each other as they fell into the grease. The second set was stopped dead in their tracks as the vines not only grabbed their legs but wrapped up their bodies and arms too. This meant that the others around them had to either ignore them or stop to help cut them out.

"Well, speakin' of handy..." Vokin said winking at me.

I could hear Rutherford chanting something behind us as the thugs not caught in my traps came at us.

"Spirit of the ancients and god of my forefathers, grant me the strength to defeat the evil before me. DIVINE HAMMER STRIKE!"

Suddenly there was a glow from over my shoulder and a crash that sounded like glass breaking. Rutherford hadn't even healed us yet and was really pulling his weight in a fight. If only I could take him seriously in that armor. Vokin and I continued to hold off the thugs. Suddenly I could see them growing hesitant to attack us. And all at once they turned and ran. Confused I turned around to see what was behind us.

"No...not yet. We aren't ready!"

Behind us was a beast made of pure shadow. As it moved the light seemed to be sucked into it. It took the shape of some kind of large cat-like creature and was standing over Gregory, whose eyes were shining a red color now. The shadow also had read glowing eyes shaped like cat eyes that seemed to also reflect the light around it. The shadow the creature was made out of was so dark now that light couldn't get through it. This darkness went beyond what a normal shadow was, blocking the light from an object, and into something much deeper. As it moved, parts of its back appeared to stand up like the hackles of a cat, all the while it appeared to connect back to Gregory's shadow as its base, though it no longer behaved like a normal shadow, only following its owner's movements. It spoke through Gregory in a voice that sounded like the combination of a hundred voices at once, its own silhouetted self appearing to have no mouth at all.

"You thought you could hide from us Dragonrider? You are a fool. I am but the first to have found you. Others will come, but they will not be needed. I will end you here. You are pathetic. You are weak. You do not even have your dragon with you. Then I will take this town, and the others around it will fall as well."

I stood there for a moment. Worried, confused, scared. Then I realized, it was an aura. I could feel it. It was oppressive and extremely powerful, but still an aura. I fought against it. I steeled my resolve. I would not go down without a fight, and I would get back to Aeolith. I took a single step forward. I could feel the aura get stronger, trying to force me to my knees, but I persisted, throwing everything I had into resisting the force that was trying to push me down.

The eyes of the beast and Gregory narrowed at me suddenly. I took another step forward.

"You will not take this town. You will not take this land. You will not prevail today. I will not allow it!"

Suddenly the sigil on my chest began to glow, and with that light, the oppressive weight was lifted from me almost instantly and I felt lighter than I had before. I stepped up the boxes and the shadow beast began to growl. Gregory began to growl. I walked right up to Gregory and as I did so, the beast reached up a giant shadow paw and swiped down at me. I lifted my sword, almost without thought to block the attack, and as the strike hit my sword a brilliant flash of light shone out, and the shadow beast hissed and recoiled in pain. Gregory also recoiled slightly as though he was in pain as well. A voice spoke to me in my head. Something ancient, something powerful spoke into my mind.

As I listened, the voice told me what I needed to do. I placed one hand on Gregory's face with my thumb on his forehead and my fingers to the right across his face, the other held my sword up against the shadow beast.

"From darkness, you came, to darkness, you shall return, LUX NEGAT TUUM ESSE!"

Light erupted from Gregory's eyes, mouth, nostrils, ears, my hand, and my sword all at once. There was a shrieking sound that came from the Shadow Beast as the light ripped through it and it was obliterated on the spot. As the light faded Gregory slumped to the ground and I felt all my strength leave me as well. I fell to my knees and caught myself on a box before I fell down the makeshift stairs. Rutherford, Vokin, and Tristan rushed up to me, finally freed from the oppressive aura as well.

"What in the nine hells was that lad?!" Vokin asked.

"I'm...I'm not really sure. I felt something speak to me and knew it was what I had to do."

"Well, we should get out while we can. Grab that idiot and let's get to Harlow." Rutherford said taking charge. I had never seen him so focused before.

Rutherford and Tristan helped me to my feet while Vokin threw Gregory over his shoulder. We ran out of the warehouse and back toward the main part of town. Just as we were about to enter the streets of the town, the rain beginning to lift as we moved away from the warehouse, a group of thugs blocked our path.

"Now listen here laddies, ye really don't want to get in our way this time."

One thug put his hands out and spoke to us instead.

"No, we don't want to fight. We saw what that was back there. We ran as soon as we saw it though, then saw a flash of light. Did you all kill it?"

We all looked at each other for a moment, not sure what to say to them.

"Indeed. We killed it. I am a high-level cleric and used a divine spell. It was destroyed." Rutherford said.

Their faces lit up at this and they seemed to accept it as truth.

"Oh thank the heavens. What was that thing?"

"Some kind of monster. But we are adventurers and monsters are our business."

They looked like they were about to run at us when they instead kneeled.

"Thank you for killing it for us. It was oppressing us and had the boss possessed!"

"We didn't know what to do, and it felt like it was forcing us to do its bidding. Thank you so much for helping us," another added.

We looked awkwardly at each other and then back at the men kneeling on the ground.

"I guess we don't need to rush off now, will you all go with us to see Commander Harlow?"

"Of course! We would gladly go explain what was happening."

With that, we set off to find Harlow again. I never had expected to have this end this way. Violence? Sure. Possibly being chased out? Yes. Even talking to them and having them understand and we all became friends and they threw me a birthday party with cake and ice cream? It existed in the list of extreme possibilities. But saving them from a Shadow Beast and having them come with us to explain what happened? It didn't even make the list as a possibility I had tried to think of.

The group of men rose to their feet and we walked out to the town streets and toward the front gate again. As we got close Harlow was still standing near the gate, but he looked over to us and got a really confused look on his face. Then he saw Vokin carrying a body over his shoulder and facepalmed. As we neared he spoke to us.

"I thought you were just going to talk?"

"I did try that first," I said smiling at him.

"Did you kill him?"

"No. Or rather, I don't think so."

"So why are you carrying a body? And who are all these people?" Harlow said, seeming to just notice the others behind us.

"He's just unconscious, Harlow. Though I suppose not all of them will be alive if you go to the warehouse." Rutherford said.

A defeated look came over Harlow at that proclamation.

"Um, Commander? We can explain all that." said one of the men following us.

He stepped forward and proceeded to explain the whole story to Commander Harlow. He explained the feelings they had gotten from Gregory to the compulsion to do the things they had, all the way up to the point we showed up and defeated the monster.

"That is quite the tale. So you and these men are happy for these adventurers' involvement?"

"Without them, we would still be doing that creature's bidding. We are extremely grateful."

"This is going to be a lot of paperwork boys."

"We are really sorry it went that way, but I need to have a private conversation with you Commander. And it's going to need to be after you are off duty."

He gave me a strange look.

"I also will want you to come with me. We need to talk outside the city. Can you take a day off tomorrow? It is really important."

"How important?"

"Life and death, Commander."

His face went hard for a moment.

"I'm not sure I can make it work, but I will try."

"Thank you, Commander. I wouldn't ask for this right after this issue if I wasn't sure it is something that will affect not only your entire town but all other towns around here."

He really looked taken aback at this but nodded. Vokin laid Gregory's body down and we turned to go to the Dragon's Nest. Harlow thanked us again as we walked off. Once we got to the inn Patsy seemed to be waiting for us already.

"Well, it's about time ye came to see me again lads. Here to use up yer last night?"

She paused as she turned to face us, clearly taken aback by the blood, and gore that covered us all.

"We sure are Patsy. Thanks for everything you've done for us."

"....It's the least I could do. I don't always get such great customers as yerselves here...Can I just ask...what the hell happened? You went to meet with Harlow, to talk to a healer, and here you are covered in gore."

"Oh, this? It's a bit of a long story, but I guess the short of it is, Gregory isn't going to be a problem anymore. I'm sure Harlow will give you the details. We wanted to stop in to let you know we would be staying here one more night before we head out. We have to leave for now though. I hope to be back soon, but we have business we have to go take care of."

"Well, I understand that. Though I hope ye will be back sooner than later."

She seemed sincere in her words, but the look on her face said she wished we could hose off outside first.

"We couldn't stay away from you Patsy," I said giving her a wink at the same time.

She tried to smile back at me, but it came across more as a polite attempt not to be completely disgusted.

"Good. Because I want to be keepin an eye on ye lads. Lest ye get into more trouble than ye can handle. Now, go back out and around the back and I'll get ye somethin' to wash off with."

We chuckled at this and went out back to clean off before we left to head to the magic store again. After rinsing we were permitted to go inside to use the regular bathing areas and Patsy had someone do a rush cleaning job on our clothes for us. After a good scrub, we got our clothes back on, collected our gear from our room, and headed out. When we arrived there was a different person behind the counter. This time it was an older man in a long flowing robe behind the counter. He looked up at us when we entered and appeared to recognize us.

"Ah, gentlemen! I see two of you have returned! I hope for more purchases. Your last venture was much appreciated."

"I'm sorry, do we know you?" I asked, a little confused.

"Oh! Forgive me. I am the proprietor of this magical shop. Emmit is my name. Someone with the purchasing power you had last time definitely doesn't go unnoticed."

"Hello, Emmit. It is nice to meet you. Your wares definitely helped us. We are hoping to find more of the like and see what you have, but I have to ask, why is the shop named Madame Julie's if you own it?"

"Ah! Wonderful news! As for the name, Julie was my late wife's name. Unfortunately, she has since passed away from an illness, but we opened the shop together many years ago and now my daughter helps me run the shop. On the topic of the spells, I have just about every spell one could ask for, if you have something in mind I can find it for you, if not then I can make a recommendation based on your current spells if you like."

"I am so sorry for your loss Emmit."

"Thank you. It was difficult, but she would have wanted us to move on. Now about those spells."

"Right, I think I need something from the light category. Something that can deal damage. Preferably a lot of damage."

"In that case, I would likely recommend either the spell Radiance or Sun Beam. The main difference between the two is if you need to have something focused or something broader. Radiance is a light spell that sends out hundreds of shimmering lights that will each do a small amount of damage to enemies they touch, whereas Sun Beam is a focused beam of light that channels the energy of the sun into a single target."

"How much are they?"

"These are both pretty powerful spells, so Radiance is one hundred and fifty gold and the Sun Beam is one hundred and seventy gold."

Vokin whistled at the prices. "That be quite a sum."

"Unfortunately I think we are going to need them. So I will take them both."

I took out the over three hundred gold and paid for the two spells.

"Vokin, can you learn either of these?"

"I cannot. I am a fighter, not a mage. But I bet our friend Rutherford there could."

I turned to Rutherford who was looking at some items on a shelf with an extreme focus. I called his name once, then twice before he finally jumped a little and turned back to us.

"What? Sorry, I was looking at shiny things."

"Can you learn light spells, Rutherford?"

"Hm? Oh, yes I can. Why do you ask?"

I handed him the spell for Radiance.

"This should come in handy since you are joining us."

He looked down at the scroll in shock. When he didn't reach to take it I became a little concerned.

"What's the matter, Rutherford? You said you could learn it."

"It's not that. It's just, that...no one has ever offered to give me a spell before. These are expensive Callan. And I don't know that I can accept something so costly."

"Rutherford, you are part of the team now. We are only as good as our worst member. So I have to do what's best for the team not what's best for me. I need you to have my back in this world."

Rutherford looked as though he was going to cry.

"This is the greatest gift ever, from the greatest friend ever. I don't normally get gifts like at all, and when I do its usually because I healed someone from something terrible and they just feel like they have to give me something even though I tell them you don't have to give me something, but if you did get me something it should be a fruit basket because I really like fruit baskets, though I have no idea why someone once thought, hmmm I really appreciate this person so why don't I go get them some fresh produce to show them how much I appreciate them, because who doesn't like fresh produce, even though if you think about it, it's likely a pretty meaningless gesture that someone worked tirelessly for you or did something really big and the best thing you could think of was something that will spoil if left out too long, and..."

"RUTHERFORD!"

He stopped, blinked, then looked at me confused.

"Take the damn scroll."

He looked sheepish for a moment, then took the scroll from my hand and bobbed his head in appreciation. We both stepped to the back to learn our new spells and came back out a few minutes later.

"Fighting some kind of dark creatures?" Emmit inquired.

"Something like that. These creatures definitely don't like the light."

"Well, better you than me. But I'm glad I could be of some help."

After we shook hands we bid farewell to Emmit and made our way back to the inn. Patsy was behind the bar this time serving up drinks but still stopped to give us a greeting.

"I heard there might have been a kerfuffle over at one of the warehouses. Ye wouldn't have had anything to do with that would ye?"

"I think that is something you'll need to talk with Commander Harlow about. Not sure how much should be said at this point."

"Fine, I'll ask him next I see him. I'm just glad to see yer alright."

We sat at a table and Patsy brought us food and drink, people would stare at us because of Rutherford, but we all decided we didn't care. He had come through for us and we were happy to have him on the team. After eating our fill we went up to the room and got ourselves situated and comfortable. It was still a few hours yet til bedtime, but we were not in the mood to be out anymore. I was almost asleep before I hit the bed. The notifications blinking in my vision were forgotten for now as I drifted off to sleep.