I had spent a lot of my life hiding away in the shadows. It was only natural for a creature of the night. Preying on the living, avoiding the sharp edges of Hero and vampire hunter alike, and growing my power out of sight. The Human Mask was something that had fit naturally, and although I was more myself without it, I felt naked and exposed. As weak as I had now become, it was a shield that kept me safe. If only we could all walk unabashedly through the world as our true selves.

The remainder of our walk went by quicker than our entrance had been. Either our brains had tired of the monotonous surroundings and emotional toll of the day, or our lack of caution made for quicker footfalls.

“Good thing the plants died,” Jakob murmured as he squinted his eyes around our surroundings. “Almost out of arrows.”

“No magical quiver?” I asked, almost immediately regretting the assumption. Few magical artifacts had been out of my reach in my previous life - and now all that I had accomplished had been taken from me. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. I have one on my shopping list, but a cursed Party doesn’t make a lot of gold.”

“Basil has all your gold, too - I bet.” Florence scowled at me as if it was my fault the Cleric had stabbed us in the back.

I nodded. “Well, I suppose we will have to be a bit cut-throat. Killing Villains is all well and good - but if we aren’t getting paid, then our gear will fall behind, and we’ll die.”

We broke through the tree line and found Petal still standing beside the wagon.

Florence immediately ran over to the animal and threw her arms around it. “Petal, you’re okay! And so warm.” She sighed deeply.

Mentally, I added spare clothes and blankets to our list of needs. No more half-measures when it came to our adventures. Previously I was contented to rough it, figuring Basil and I could carry the Quest on our shoulders purely based on hubris. If I were to be a real Hero, we would need not just to struggle and survive, but thrive against the odds.

Jakob made to get up atop the wagon and offered a hand down to the Mage so she could get up to the front bench.

For a moment, I stood in the brief illumination of the early night’s moon. With a deep breath, I searched within myself. A tangled mess of jumbled emotions and regrets. Anger kept in a locked box. And then there - amongst all the turmoil was the slight thread of the severed magical connection to the Human Mask enchantment. I was never much for Magical casting, aside from my innate abilities or what artifacts could grant me.

I walked over to the wagon and held my hand up towards Florence.

“May I briefly use you as an anchor?”

“Uh?” A brief panic flashed across her face before she slowly placed her hand upon mine.

With my eyes closed again, I located the strand and focused. Like pulling one of the necromantic vines from the ground, I used her passive magical energy as a guide to lift the broken connection within me - and after a minute of awkward silence, I reattached the enchantment.

I let go of her hand as my skin regained a healthy tanned tone, my fangs rescinded from view, and my muck-laden beard became a warm brown. “Thank you, Florence.”

“I’m not sure what I did, but you are welcome?” She smiled awkwardly.

“Normally, I’d be the type to say just be yourself,” Jakob eyed me as he slunk down into the back of the wagon, “but the town probably doesn’t see it that way.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

If I saved the world a couple of times, I may be accepted - although, as a Vampire, that would be an uphill battle for certain. Even not taking into account my history. I ran my tongue across my teeth as I considered whether anyone I had hurt before was still alive. How many decades had I spent withdrawn from the world?

After untying the animal from the tree, I led it around to the road before climbing aboard myself. I exhaled and sunk into the uncomfortable wood myself, mirroring the Ranger opposite.

“That was pretty fucked, huh, Victor?”

With my eyes closed, I smiled. “It always is.”

The truth was that we had completed the Quest. For everything we had lost or endured, we had grown stronger - even if we wouldn’t feel it today. Another tickbox checked at the Guild, where we had danced to their tune and won some prized scars in an attempt to earn… a step closer to Promotion.

“I think we need a break before the next Quest,” I murmured as the wagon rocked us back and forth across the uneven cobbled road.

“How many more before the next Rank,” Florence asked from the front.

“Not until we can do this sort of thing with our eyes closed.” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see the action. “If we can kill F Ranks like it’s nothing, then we will get assigned an E Rank to kill.”

“Then, if we survive that, we get our next abilities?” Jakob thumbed at his bow as he asked.

“I believe so.” This was all information that Basil had tried to nail into my head - although it seemed pointless now if all his intentions were leading to killing me and taking over what I had amassed.

I tried not to think about it too much. Assuming he was back at my estate, with full access to everything there… there were enough artifacts and magical items there to put him on the level of an A Rank. Certainly, without experience, he wouldn’t be higher. As far as I knew, he didn’t have a proper Class, but surely would inherit one with his acts of betrayal.

What he intended to do with all that power was something I had no clue about. Did he want to take over the world? That was cliche as anything and a sure way to falling short of intention. Maybe he would just start smaller, and begin to test the limits of his reach and power. Something told me that we would need to keep an eye and ear out for his machinations - at some point, he would surely get wind of our survival and would send conflict our way.

“Do you both know what you are getting into if we go against Basil now?”

Silence followed.

“Not really,” Florence admitted. “But you do, right?”

“You were ready and willing to help us with the Troll. So it’s only fair we help you.” Jakob agreed. “Plus, he left us all for dead.”

“True.” I let this fact stew in my head for a while.

After some time, we eventually came across the bodies of the would-be bandits. Petal slowed to a near stop as Florence eyed them up. “Uh - if there’s any clothes that aren’t soaked with corpse juices, that’d be great.”

“Stop the cart,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s loot.”

It was fine having the high road when you felt clean and unabashed. After a day of rolling around in mud and agony, it seemed prudent to take whatever scraps you were able to. How quickly the blade of my morality had dulled after a day of conflict. A Hero could stick their feet in the grey waters sometimes without marring their gleaming armor. There were many Heroes that did worse - I knew this from experience.

Between all of the dead, we were able to fashion a full set of clothing for Florence - even some warmer boots that fit. Some gold so that we could eat well tonight, although it didn't look like they kept most of their valuables on their person. Jakob replenished a portion of his quiver with arrows that weren’t ruined. I found a note in the pocket of the blonde, faceless bandit.

The bandits were paid off to assault us. No points for guessing who by.

“Asshole!” Florence seethed beneath several layers of dirtied leather and dark brown cloth. “Why?”

“Probably just to weaken us.” Jakob shrugged. “Odd that the leader would carry the note.”

I tilted my head as I helped them back onto the wagon. “Chances are he made the guess that I would be acting too high and mighty to want to rifle through the corpses. He lucked out on a lot of gambles.”

“How long has he known you - since you were at your peak?” Jakob lent a hand down to help me up, but I almost pulled him back down by accident.

“No - sorry - only since my… depressive stage.”

“So he hasn’t truly seen what you are capable of?” Florence looked back with a hint of a wry smile across her face.

“He has not - few still living have.” I knew what they were getting at. He hadn’t seen my true power, only the waste of potential.

If he had seen what a Rank Villain could do… well, he wouldn’t have made the mistake of crossing me. None who ever had still drew breath. Of course, I was no longer an S Rank - but perhaps I could allow myself to sink into some of my old ways, assuming the path I trod was that of a Hero.

“I am weaker now, but there is something - or someone that can help our cause.” I let a smile widen on my face. It was a long shot, but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel, and any step up or advantage would set us on the course for victory.

Or at least delay our demise a few more days.