“So you’re making new friends?” Asked Callie as I leaned back against the wall. She’d manifested a copy through my shadow, and it was curled up next to me. “Because I’ll be honest honey, you can be an acquired taste at times.” She winked at me. “I joke, but seriously, new friends are always good.”

“Unless they’re evil psychopaths who are going to end up being our enemies.” I pointed out.

She shrugged. “Do they seem like psychopaths? I trust your divination Skills to keep you out of trouble, and as long as they don’t try to stab you in the back, I don’t see why you couldn’t offer them a spot with one of your factions. You know your mom and Chelsea would be perfectly happy to scout some new talent.”

“We’ll see. I have to get to know them better.” I was still in my armor, but with my mask off I felt more myself. It was strange how much that aspect of things had changed. I used to feel naked without it, but since Black Sorrow changed it, it didn’t feel like mine anyway. I was going to have to ask Zeke to make me a better one when this was over. “Speaking of Chelsea, how is she doing?”

My wife snickered. “Not bad. She’s learning to use both her abilities, and to try to slowly mix them in combat. Bethy keeps trying to ‘help’ and Chelsea gets flustered when she’s around and accidentally blows herself up.”

“That sounds like her.” I snickered. “How about Abel? Anyone heard from him?”

Her snicker became a full on cackle. “He calls Mel to complain like every day. I’m sure they talk through their bond too, so I think he just wants to make sure we all hear about how pissed off he is. Apparently Morgan is not a gentle teacher.”

My own grin matched hers in sadistic amusement. “Gosh.” I drawled maliciously. “That’s so sad. I can’t imagine what it would be like to suffer at the hands of a cruel and capricious teacher. It certainly wasn’t my INTENTION for him to suffer in such a way. I’ll keep him in my thoughts.”

She rolled her eyes, and was about to respond when a knock sounded at my door. I tensed, grabbing my mask and sliding it back on. I hadn’t heard anyone coming, which meant Stealth, and my Danger Sense wasn’t pinging so they weren’t hostile. I came to my feet slowly, nodding to Callie as the clone melted back into shadow. She couldn’t help me from where she was, those clones being far too fragile for a prolonged long distance fight.

After mentally preparing, I strolled to the door and pulled it open, glaring down at the person on the other side. “What?” I snapped.

The figure before me simply stared back, unaffected by my ire. “Mephistopheles.” Came the voice from under the darkened hood like the rustle of dead leave over a cold gravestone. “You are requested in the dining room.” The face beneath the cloak wasn’t visible, but a mask was. A half face mask carved of black wood to resemble the top half of a skull, with bright red eyes that cast a dim glow over the unrelieved darkness inside the hood. It gave the impression the mask was floating in an empty abyss, and was deeply unsettling.

“And who are you,” I intoned. “To command me in such a way?”

“Attend or do not.” Rasped the figure. “But know that if you choose to defy the invitation, you will forfeit all rights to the divine selection. The eyes of the dark gods are on this world. Your trials have already begun, and they watch carefully. Be warned, for if you are not a willing vessel for their power, your only choice is to bow to their awful might by force, and for those who stand against their fury, only tragedy awaits.”

There was a flutter in the air, and the figure dissolved into a few drifting black feathers, which vanished as they touched the ground. I rolled my eyes. “Melodramatic ass.” I muttered as I turned to head for the stairs.

To my complete lack of surprise, Vesper, Archie, Rayden, Desria, Cavallo, and Tanner were all converging at the top of the steps. We’d all chosen to stay in the same inn, though obviously our rooms had some distance between them. Still, thinking back, I should have heard the hooded figure addressing any of the others, or even knocking on their door. Whatever the thing was, it had some interesting tricks.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Thinking about it, I suspected he might be some kind of servant of Delthrys, the god of secrets. It would certainly fit.

“Fist!” Called Rayden as I joined them. “Good to see you got the call too. Anyone know anything about creepy mcweirdmask back there? Because I tried a few of my analysis Skills and I got jack and shit.”

Archie shook his head in annoyance. “Likewise.” He grunted. “But they did give me a fun little ultimatum. I take it we’re all heading downstairs to meet with our new friend now?”

“I chafe under their assumptions.” I rumbled. “But I came for the selection. To throw away my chance for greatness to sate some fleeting sense of personal pride is pure foolishness. I will attend this conclave.”

Vesper nodded. “Pretty much where we landed. We should stick together then. Just in case our new friend has impure intentions.”

Nodding solemnly, we all got into a tight grouping, though not so tight as to limit range of movement. We were all experienced, and Archie, Cavallo, and I took the front, being the biggest. I triggered Mornax along with my two consistently active forms, just in case something attacked.

We reached the ground floor, and the whole place was shockingly empty. An almost blue moonlight flooded the area from the windows, leaving dark shadows pooling everywhere. We headed for the dining room, and when we arrived, the cloaked figure was standing among the tables, hands clasped behind their back.

“Well, we’re here.” Said Rayden. “It’s late though, so if there’s a version of this where you don’t posture dramatically and waste a bunch of time, can we go with that one? Also what’s your name, because I can’t just keep calling you ‘creepy mask guy’ in my head. We already have one of those and it’s getting confusing.”

The figure paused menacingly. “You may address me as you wish, my name matters no-”

“Cool, you’re Scott now.” Interrupted Rayden. “Problem solved. Now, what are you doing here, Scott, and what do you want?”

The pause this time was less menacing and more confused. “I…yes. Well. I have come to extend your invitations to the selection, as well as give you your first task. To serve the dark gods is an honor that not just any may accept. You must prove your worthiness.”

“Worthiness?” Rayden said skeptically. “How high can the bar be? I mean, you’re worthy, and your name is Scott. That’s a ridiculous name.”

“You don’t…please stop calling me that.” The cloaked figure formerly known as Scott sounded frustrated. “Take this seriously. Your very lives hang in the balance.”

Rayden snorted. “Yeah, because that’s an unfamiliar set of circumstances.”

“Look, what is the task?” I asked, figuring I’d better interrupt Ray before he got up a head of steam. I’d learned to handle unpredictable teammates when I’d been working with Bethy. Sometimes you just had to make them focus.

Not-Scott nodded, clearly pleased. “Very good. At least one of you is treating this situation with the gravitas it deserves.” His tone was almost reproachful, and I smirked behind my mask, seeing that Rayden had done exactly what he’d probably intended to do, and taken the wind out of Not-Scott’s creepy sails.

“Exactly.” I boomed. “So tell us what we need to know, Not-Scott.”

Rayden burst out laughing, and I could swear the masked figure glared at me. “My NAME,” They hissed. “Is Echelon. I serve Delthrys, the god of secrets, and he is not amused by your antics!”

“Oh please.” Snorted Desria. “There’s no way an actual god is giving us enough attention to care about this conversation. So just tell us what the task is.”

The figure glared for a moment, then sighed. With a snap of their fingers, a series of birds coalesced (ravens, of course, because what else would a creepy masked cloak person use) they flew to us, each dropping a small scroll. I snatched mine out of the air, and after opening and reading it, looked back up at Echelon. “Its a person.” I said flatly.

“Of course.” Echelon said with a nod. “A target. Delthys is one of the six whom you may serve. The first trial shall weed out those who might stand at his side. Every person in the trials is given a target. You have three days to find them. Should you fail, you will be barred forever from service to Delthrys, and all that he may grant you, though you will not be precluded from the other trials. Those who succeed most quickly will move on to Delthrys’s next trial.”

I blinked at her. “So this trial has no benefit for those who seek to serve a different deity?”

Echelon shook their head. “Not so. If you succeed in a trial, you may use that success to offset a failure for the first trial of another deity. The top scorer in any first trial may even beg intercession from that god for aid in another trial down the line, even if that trial is for a different god.”

That sounded complicated as hell. That meant there would be, eventually, six different selections going on all over Rackham. I could blow some of them off, but if they were all thematic…having a free pass for the Lady of Lamentation’s task might be a good idea. As a goddess of torment, there was a chance it would be incredibly unpleasant.

Having a free intercession from the god of secrets could certainly come in handy. I was just really hoping the Lady of Lamentations had some other domain than torturing people, or I wasn’t going to make it through this.

I glanced down at my target. For now I just had to find this guy. Chester Baddington, professional thief and a D-ranker on the Path of Stealth. Fantastic. Echelon, seemingly ignorant or uncaring of my mental dilemma, turned their back to us. “And so your task has been passed. The first task of the next trial will commence in one week’s time. Some of you will not bother to move on, and will serve at the hand of Delthrys. For the rest, this will be the last time we meet.”

Echelon vanished in a puff of raven feathers, and we all turned to each other. “So…” Said Rayden. “Did he say anything about us helping each other? I bet teaming up would make this way easier.”

I considered the trial, and the god behind it. “I think not.” I said slowly. “Not on this one. At least not yet. Perhaps if we run into difficulty on day one. Is anyone planning not to bother with the task?”

No one was. It made sense, it was a big opportunity for some free credit in case our task down the line was too hard or painful. That thought resonated oddly. Too painful. The Lady of Lamentation was a goddess of torment, though based on her liquid, probably also corruption. What if her task was to ENDURE those things. I felt my blood run cold at that. In some ways it would be easier, but in others…yeah, I definitely needed to make sure I had a free pass for the first trial for the goddess I was aiming at. I had a feeling it would be one of the hardest to endure. Before that though, I had to do some research, because if I was going to pass any of these trials, I needed to know more about the dark gods.