Kya slowly made her way up the long, dark staircase back to Arthur’s farmhouse. While she did, her attention was focused almost entirely inwards allowing her aura to guide her through the dark passage.
She was currently sorting through her internal storage space, looking at what she’d received from looting Douglass, the earth user. Delightfully, she found her cloak and necklace in her storage, figuring he must have taken them and when he died they were looted back to her. However, more interestingly, she found a whole deluge of new and random supplies as well, plus a ring with a shattered gemstone that gave off some crazy vibes.
Pulling out her cloak and amulet and donning them immediately, she then took out and examined the ring. It gave her a small tingle, like a mild electric shock. Not wanting to hold onto it for too long, she quickly identified it before returning it to her storage space.
- - - - -
- Item: Spatial ring - Broken
- Rarity: 1-Star - Uncommon
- Description: A ring once used widely throughout the world, it utilizes a spatial enchantment to create a small storage space inside the gem.
Note: This ring was broken when placed within another dimensional storage space while itself holding items.
- Enchantments: Basic Spatial Expansion - Dispelled
- Requirements: N/A
- - - - -
That was interesting, Kya thought, remembering her own attempts at storing the spatial bag when it still had items inside. She’d been unable to do it, and lamented the fact that this meant she couldn’t get theoretically infinite storage, but now she was grateful it hadn’t let her do it. She hadn’t used the bag since before getting her class, but she would hate to have it torn or ripped or whatever because of a dumb mistake.
She wondered if there was somewhere in town to repair enchanted items? She assumed that if someone could make a ring like this, then someone could probably repair it. Though, she still wasn’t clear on the whole spatial user thing. Unless she was wrong, that weird four-eyed demon man had definitely had pink in his eyes, implying at least a spatial subclass. Maybe. She wasn’t entirely sure, but that was what she guessed. Plus both this guy and she suspected others had items like this one for spatial storage. It would be pretty hypocritical to condemn spatial users and then turn around and use their inventions.
Though, as she thought more on it, that sounded exactly like what most people in history would do. Take something great from a defeated foe, and call them evil while stealing it for yourself? Yeah, that definitely happened.
Finally getting to the top of the stairs, she took a breath and prepared herself. She had no idea how this conversation would go, but knew it would be delicate. She had killed their master on the one hand, but on the other, she strongly suspected they had been killing the dwarves for body parts, and replacing them for at least a while now. So… yeah, delicate would be best.
She opened up the door and exited into the first floor of the home. It was dark, though the horizon outside was just beginning to lighten, giving everything around her a hazy look.
With the return of her amulet, and the aura strength it brought, she knew where the dwarf was. Oddly enough, she could only sense him, sitting quietly in the other room. She would have expected the other dwarf, the cook, to be there with him. With reproach, Kya realized she’d forgotten the female dwarf's name.
She was also curious where the other dwarves were, and about several other things besides, but hopefully she would get to ask him.
Walking into the room, she tried to exude calmness, like she was approaching an animal without being sure whether it would run or attack.
He continued to simply sit on the floor in front of the couch, legs crossed in front of him and hands in his lap. He looked odd, off. An android powered down. In front of him was a small tray, intricately detailed with red lacquered wood, with black and gold embossments weaving around the edges forming a flowing and beautiful pattern. On it was a brown bottle to the left, and a crystalline green bottle to the right, plus two small round dishes, like miniature martini glasses made for shots.
Kya methodically made her way into the room, before sitting down opposite him, the small tray separating them.
Only then, when she was seated and still, did he react. His voice that of a rockslide down the side of a mountain.
“The others have gone. Left with the lord.”
The lord? The four eyed demon man? This just raised more questions, a lor more.
“And why have you stayed?”
He seemed to droop at the question, just slightly. His rigid back bending and his chin dipping ever so noticably.
“It is as master wills it. I allowed you to sneak through the house. I am to be punished.”
“Your punishment is to speak with me?” She was keeping her voice low and steady, trying to keep him both calm and to keep him talking. The more he spoke, the more likely she was to get something useful.
“Speaking to you is your reward. We have not started yet, and I will explain the rules in a moment. But no, what comes after that is my punishment.”
“I don’t understand, what is the punishment?”
He raised his small, gnarled hand and waved away her question. “You will see, you will see.”
He then poured out both bottles, one into each glass.
“You must choose a drink. They each contain a small amount of both a powerful poison, and a powerful truth serum. You must drain your drink, then you can ask any question. My drink contains the same, but for dwarves rather than humans. This is the master’s reward for you. I know everything that went on in this house, and everything that you wish to ask I can answer. The game stops when one of us dies, or if you are unable or unwilling to continue. You may inspect both bottles to your heart's content before agreeing to play.”
“This is insane, why the hell would I do this, or make you do this?!?” Kya burst out. She could see that smug smile on the four eyed man's face, amused by his own little set up.
Taln again, sagged slightly. His voice kept the same rough tone, but his body language told another story.
“Because, if you do not play, I will drink the whole of my own bottle now, and end my life immediately.”
Kya studied the dwarf for an extended period. His eyes, deep and vast, held so much therein. It betrayed the absolutely stoic exterior somewhat, she thought. She could just as easily have made this up in her own mind, rationalizing the plan forming in her head.
“Are you serious? If I don’t play, you’ll really drink that down?’
“Yes to both.”
Kya picked up and inspected the clear liquid, small glowing blue particles floating within like glow in the dark sprinkles.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
- - - - -
NEW QUEST!
Drinking Contest
- Objective: Drink the mysterious poisonous liquid with Taln the Dwarf to gain information on the cult operating in the area.
- Time Remaining: N/A
- Reward: This one’s a gamble. Could pay off big time, could kill you outright. Take your pick without knowing the reward.
- Note: Skill {Identify}will not function on either drink for the duration of the game.
- - - - -
That pretty much sealed the deal for Kya. She had been just about to identify it when apparently she’d triggered the quest.
But, for the first time, she wasn’t going to follow a quest. Or more to say, she would deliberately go against the quest's guidance.
As quickly as she could, and in one instant, she pulled both bottles, both glasses, and the tray itself all into her inventory. Then, as Taln belatedly rose to his feet in protest, she lunged forward from her sitting position and summoned her dagger moments before the blade struck Taln’s arm.
His skin was like solid granite, she left a small scratch yes, but not nearly the wound that should have been inflicted from such a strike.
Regardless, the venomfang dagger wasn’t one to complain. Already moving late and struggling to keep up with Kya, she got three more cuts in quick succession, two more on the same arm and one on the other.
Before too long, Taln collapsed back, succumbing to the venom and having hallucinations and daydreams all on his own.
“Yeah, sorry Taln, but fuck that. I’m not playing a death game like this is early Yu-Gi-Oh or something. I will, however, take you back to town with me for some more qualified help.”
Just as she bent down to scoop up the dwarf, Kya got the update she’d been expecting.
- - - - -
- Objective Failed!
You stopped the game before it could even begin! Now that you have Taln in your custody, seek out help.
- Quest Update
- New Objective: Meet with a healer for Taln
- Time Remaining: 11hrs:59min:53sec
- Rewards: Information from and/or about Taln
- - - - -
“At least there weren’t any negative effects to failing a quest” She thought, then paused, reached down, and knocked on the wooden floor, thinking herself an idiot for allowing the thought to cross her mind.
Reaching down, she hooked her arms through the armpits of the dwarf and heaved.
“Holy hell man, what do you eat” she growled through clenched teeth. Kya knew she had been giving a boost to her base physical attributes as a result of the magic, but even still, this guy weighed a metric ton.
This might not be as easy as she had thought. She’d planned to simply carry the dwarf back to town, but at this point she’d be tapped out just to reach the front door.
Releasing him and stepping back, wiping the sweat from her brow and taking slow deliberate breaths, she thought if mundane means wouldn’t do, she’d turn to the magical.
Way back when she’d first been playing with the staff in the abandoned temple, she’d found that by applying just a minimal amount of pull, and then walking forward, she could have an object follow her around like a baby duckling.
This dwarf, for some absurd reason, weighed as much as ten men, but hopefully, she could still make this work.
Taking several steps back, then concentrating her aura solely on the dwarf, she started with a small pull. His hair and beard actually moved up and towards her as though drawn by some invisible magnetism, but the rest of him remained as motionless as ever.
This was expected, after all, it was only her first pull. She increased the force behind it gradually, and observed as the hair continued to stand straight towards her, while the clothes did not. She guessed because hair was a part of him and so could be affected?
She needed to do some experimenting, and honest to goodness training.
Eventually, Kya was pulling as hard as she could and still have it sustainable on the trek towards the train station, and still no movement except several hairs which had been pulled out only to fall harmlessly to the ground the moment they left his head.
Releasing him, and again taking breaths to slow her heart rate, Kya downed a health potion for no particular reason, but they were cooling and thirst quenching. Then, with an almost casual step, walked over and gave him another couple slashes with the dagger. Couldn’t have him waking up during all of this, that would be rather unfortunate.
Kya began to take steps back and forth, pacing in the small room and considering what she ought to do when, she had an epiphany, or so she thought.
Going over to a nearby shelf, she picked up a random object, some weird oblong piece of wood that kinda reminded her of a miniature football. It was dense, heavy wood and had a bit of detailing on it, but she didn’t really care that much, she just wanted it for the weight.
She once more began with the most gentle and delicate pull she could manage, not quite enough to lift the wooden object out of her hands, but she noticed an immediate decrease in its weight. She wondered for the first time, fundamentally, what her powers were doing.
They weren’t really “pulling” on the object at all, but reorienting it. She could, for the first time with this object in her hands, feel its weight slowly lessen towards the earth, and instead begin moving towards her.
She should have paid more attention in physics class, because this would likely make significantly more sense, but what if she wasn’t just pushing and pulling like the name suggested, but rather changing the actual gravity of-
- - - - -
- HIDDEN QUEST DISCOVERED!
- Class Quest: The Nature of Space
- Objective: Determine the true nature of your abilities and translate that knowledge into understanding.
- Time Remaining: N/A
- Rewards: +20% to Class Ability {Push and Pull}
- - - - -
- QUEST COMPLETE
- You have realized the nature of your abilities, centered in affecting the gravity of objects around you. Go forth with newfound strength and wisdom in yourself as you affect the world just as it affects you.
Reward: Ability {Push and Pull - 1-Star - 76%} to {Push and Pull - 1-Star - 96%}.
- - - - -
A stupid grin spread across Kya’s face. Part of her thought it was a little cheap, as she’d been thinking it would take much longer to reach this point, but still, ninety-six percent wasn’t half bad. Not bad at all.
Taking her discovery to heart, she returned to the heavy dwarf almost bouncy with giddiness, and grabbed both arms. She then pulled with both magical and mundane means at the same time, and to her delight, he slid across the floor like it was made of ice. He still had a heft to him, and she wouldn’t be full sprinting back to the train by any means, but this would work nicely.
Flinging the door open, Kya walked out into the morning suns light, happy things were going so well as they were, and began back to the station.
She got some rather strange looks from a group of children walking along the road, but when they saw her eyes, they quickly nudged each other in the ribs and talked excitedly in hushed tones, then they ran off ahead of her.
She chuckled quietly, huffing with the effort. This was easier than it was, but didn’t mean it was easy.
Eventually, she pulled the body of Taln up the stamps to the train station, left a couple feron on the counter of the stunned attendant, and finally boarded the sleek silver bullet train, sitting back down in the plush chair of the see-through car.
It had been what, literally a day since she first boarded the train to come out here? That felt like a week ago, maybe more. Kya had dried blood and dirt in several places, her hair was an absolute rat's nest, though she couldn’t see it, she knew it. Reclining with her eyes closed, she almost fell asleep right then and there, feeling the gently swaying motion of the train as she waited for their departure.
However, her eyes snapped open and she turned her head sharply around when her aura picked up on another user entering the room.