Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3)

by M Damon Baker

  Tási joined us a short while later, and the three of us lay together for a while before she spoke to me.

  “I trusted her completely, but I have to admit, I couldn’t help but feel a bit terrified when you let her hold that blade against your throat.”

  “Me too,” I said. “But I think I already knew that she wouldn’t use it against me.”

  “Did you notice her flinch when she took your bow?”

  “Yes,” I replied, remembering Saibra’s look of pain when she first grasped Retribution.

  “Insleí pledged herself to Raithe and dedicated her kills to the Goddess of War,” Tási explained. “She betrayed that oath when she abandoned her past life. When Saibra took Raithe’s gift to you in her hands, Raithe could have killed her through the connection it gave her. Saibra told me that she recognized the weapon’s origins, and fully anticipated her death would follow when she touched it.”

  “What happened?” I asked in utter astonishment.

  “Raithe chose to only send Saibra a subtle reminder of her displeasure,” she began before hesitating.

  “What?” I prompted her when it was clear that she was holding back even more.

  “Raithe… passed her oath on to you, Dreya,” Tási reluctantly replied. “Saibra’s kills will now belong to you.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” I responded, completely stunned by the revelation.

  “No one does,” Tási answered me, also clearly disturbed by the information. “You’ve been granted a boon reserved only for the Gods. There’s no telling what, if anything, will happen the next time she takes a life.”

  Well, if that wasn’t just the thing I needed to cap off my day… It might have been enough to put me in a foul mood, but I’d found it easier to stay calm and in control since I’d vented some of my anger with Líann. So, instead of dwelling on the unpleasant and unknown, I tried to refocus on something else.

  “Well, if Gilfri reacts badly enough, maybe we’ll find out tomorrow,” I replied with a forced smile. “Tell me about this plan of yours.”

  As Tási laid out the details of the scheme she had devised, my smile turned genuine, and I looked forward to unleashing Saibra on the treacherous elf King. Gilfri had been plaguing me for far too long, and I relished the opportunity to return his malice in the rather poetic fashion Tási imagined.

  Gilfri’s procession arrived early the next morning, and I had Venna greet him on the Palace steps, just as she’d done with all our honored guests. He and his entourage were then escorted inside and shown quarters appropriate to their various stations. The only accommodation I made for Gilfri was to ensure that his suite was far enough away from Líann’s to avoid them accidentally crossing paths prior to the meeting between us that had been scheduled for later that evening.

  As my anticipation of the meeting with the elf King grew throughout the day, I paced around my room to release some of my excited energy. I couldn’t wait for the paranoid and xenophobic little shit to see the special scene I’d laid out for him, and I fervently hoped that Tási’s special surprise would be the final thing to push him over the edge.

  But it was the consequences that might follow which worried me the most—would it lead to war? While I was sure that the defenses of the Imperial District itself could repel anything Gilfri threw against them, there were other areas where he could definitely cause some damage.

  The outpost by the main road was a prime example. Although it was fortified against any of the typical attacks that might come along the trade route, such as bandits or an orc raiding party, the outpost would never withstand a concerted assault from an organized military unit. It simply hadn’t been designed with that in mind.

  With the outpost taken, Gilfri could simply strangle us, cutting off trade and reinforcements from our allies. While the District was mostly self-sufficient, with our links to the outside world severed, my young Empire could very well crumble.

  Even if Gilfri declared war on the spot, there was little I could do. The King of Olóra was here under my promise of safe passage. The only way I could act against him was if he struck first, since the oath I’d given would be dissolved the second he took the slightest aggressive action. I just needed to goad him into making the first move before I could rip his fucking throat out.

  When the time for our conference drew near, I left my chambers and gathered all of those who would be joining me. The agreement was for only three advisors to accompany each of us—no bodyguards or other personnel would be present, save for a few servers who would provide refreshments during our discussions.

  Although I couldn’t irk Gilfri by surrounding him with my personal guard during our meeting, nothing prevented me from showcasing their varied origins during his journey to the conference room. So, I lined his path with every single one of them, reserving a particularly notable position for Rhal, my full-blooded orc protector. I could only imagine Gilfri’s unease at seeing Rhal’s bulky form along the way, complete with the special Dwarven Steel blade Georl had fashioned for him in in the orcish style. I couldn’t be there to see it for myself, but I would have given anything for one of the cameras the remnants of the dead man’s tattered memories recalled, just to see the image of Gilfri’s face the moment he turned the corner and saw Rhal standing guard at the far end of the hallway he had to cross to reach the conference room. It would have been priceless.

  I was disappointed to see Gilfri appear quite composed, however, when he entered the meeting room. The King calmly sat down across from me, while his three advisors stood behind him, ignoring the seats that were there for them at the table. I thought I detected a slight look of surprise when Gilfri saw Líann sitting to my right, a position that denoted her strong influence, but he recovered too quickly for me to be certain.

  “If I may, Empress,” Líann began. “I believe that I’m familiar with everyone present, so perhaps it will be easiest if I make the introductions.”

  “Please, go ahead, Líann,” I prompted her, using her name rather than her title, just to make sure Gilfri understood immediately who was serving whom.

  After a slight inclination of her head towards me, Líann began.

  “King Gilfri of Olóra, I have the honor of introducing you to Empress Dreya Sintári, ruler of the First Sintári Empire, Favored of the Gods.”

  Líann hadn’t told me of the little flourish she’d added to my introduction, but it seemed to get under Gilfri’s skin, so I had no objections.

  “Empress,” Líann continued. “Accompanying King Gilfri are his honored advisors, Othil, Neval, and Wenflé.”

  “Your majesty knows me well enough,” Líann addressed Gilfri directly, “All I need to add is to inform you that I have pledged Íforn to the Empress and serve as her advisor today. Also advising the Empress are Lady Venna, her Chief Minister, and Commander Tási, the Empress’ personal aide.”

  “Thank you for introducing us, Líann,” Gilfri replied when she was finished. And although his words were polite and well-mannered, they rang hollow, and lacked any real warmth or genuineness.

  “So, Gilfri, my friend and neighbor,” I began, eager to get things rolling along. “What brings you to the Imperial District? Have you come to join my Empire?”

  “No, that will never happen,” Gilfri replied icily. “I only came to see for myself the upstart whose managed to deceive so many weak fools into following her.”

  “The ‘upstart’ has four Kingdoms pledged to her, Gilfri,” I replied pointedly.

  “As I said, weak fools,” he repeated himself as he glared at Líann. “The sort who would reject their own kind in favor of an inferior.”

  “There’s only one inferior in this room, and I’m looking right at him,” I shot back, abandoning all pretense of civility.

  “I place no value on your words,” Gilfri replied haughtily. “You cannot insult me, human.”

  “Did you send assassins to kill me?” I asked him in return, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

/>   “You’re hardly worth the effort,” he lied effortlessly.

  The power of the See Truth Spell I’d surreptitiously cast on him revealed what I already knew. The words fell from his mouth in a sickening green shade, dripping with a noxious slime that gave away his lie more clearly than any other I’d seen.

  “You’re lying, you miserable fucking wretch,” I replied with a calmness that belied the rage that was building inside me.

  “You have some proof of this accusation?” Gilfri responded with a smug arrogance. “I’ll remind you that you’ve granted me safe passage. Any unprovoked breach of such an honored agreement would surely cause those who have pledged themselves to you to reconsider their decision.”

  I didn’t answer him. Instead, I only slid my cup slightly to the side, signaling the server behind me to fill it.

  As the server approached, I could see Gilfri’s eyes light up in recognition. His anticipation was clear as Saibra stalked up behind me, and when she drew a blade from beneath the folds of her livery, Gilfri smiled in triumph.

  That smile crumbled when Saibra simply stood by my side and laid her dagger on the table in front of me. I took up the blade and looked it over in amusement before addressing Gilfri again.

  “You are nothing but a small man who, by an accident of birth, has found himself in a high office,” I denounced him as I glared across the table. “You’re a complete and utter failure, as a King and even as an elf.”

  I’d hoped that my last comment might push him over the edge. Insulting him as a King was one thing, but to a xenophobe like Gilfri, I thought that impugning his very status as an elf just might do the trick—and it did. The words were barely out of my mouth when Gilfri rose from his seat, completely incensed.

  “How dare you judge me, you filthy human whore!” Gilfri spat his anger at me. “I will see you and your phony empire ground into dust. Líann will be begging to lick my boots when I’m done with you! I won’t allow a single elf to serve under a deviant human such as you. I know about your halfling aide, and just how ‘personal’ her services are to you. Your failure to know your place and stay true to your own kind sickens me. I would rather see my Kingdom burned to the ground than let you rule over it. I will turn Olóra to ash if that’s what it takes–”

  His disgusting diatribe was abruptly cut short when Wenflé stepped forward and slid a dagger into Gilfri’s temple. The King’s body immediately went slack, and he fell into his chair in an almost perfect seated position. But for his bowed head with the dagger still in it, and the steady flow of blood that dripped from its hilt and onto the floor, one might easily have mistaken him as having fallen asleep.

  “Forgive me for perpetrating such a heinous act in your presence, Empress,” Wenflé immediately apologized. “But the King’s words strayed into treason, and I was forced to act.”

  “Perhaps you were, Wenflé,” I replied as I recovered and seized upon the man’s tone. “But I think it’s also likely that you’ve been waiting for just such an opportunity for a while.”

  “I will not deny that,” he admitted before quickly averting his gaze and staring at the floor beneath his feet.

  “So, what now?” I asked the man.

  “Wenflé’s actions cannot go unpunished,” Líann responded as she recovered from her shock. “Although Gilfri’s words were treason, and his death was warranted, regicide comes with a price.”

  “I am ready to pay for my crime,” Wenflé stood tall as he braced himself.

  “Yes, well before we get to that, I’d like to know what happens to Olóra, now that Gilfri’s dead,” I inquired. “Who takes the throne?”

  “One of us,” Othil replied. “Gilfri was the last of his line and left no heir. By law, we must choose amongst ourselves for the next King.”

  “Very well then,” I rose and rendered my verdict. “Tási, please see to Gilfri’s body and ensure that it is made ready for transport back to Olóra. Considering what has happened, I imagine that our guests will need to return home quickly.”

  “Wenflé, for the crime of regicide, I sentence you to clean up the mess you’ve made on my floors. Perhaps this will teach you to consider the consequences of your actions, and to plan for them a little better in the future.”

  “It will be my pleasure,” Wenflé replied in relief. “But if I may, Empress, we will not need to bring… the body back with us. Please dispose of it however you see fit. You may claim everything he has on his person, I only request that you allow us to retrieve the signet ring he wears.”

  “Not the crown?” I asked, motioning to the gold band around Gilfri’s head.

  “No,” Wenflé responded in disgust. “Gilfri commissioned that detestable thing himself. Whichever one of us ascends to the throne will wear the old crown—the one that symbolizes the real Olóra, not Gilfri’s ugly visions.”

  Wenflé removed the ring, and Tási called in some of the guards who wrapped Gilfri’s body in a blanket before carting it away. Then, one of the liveried staff brought in a mop and bucket and Wenflé set about cleaning the floors while we discussed what the future held for us. Despite his best efforts, Wenflé left a streaky mess behind when he’d finished, and the woman who brought the bucket sighed as she took it away, flashing me a look that said ‘I’ll tend to it later’ as she left the room.

  Wenflé and his fellow advisors intended to leave at first light. Gilfri’s death would have released many from the onerous restrictions of the blood clauses he’d forced them to accept. Considering the mayhem that might already be going on in the aftermath of the sudden release of so many from those restrictions, they felt it best to return home and restore order as quickly as possible,

  There was still much for them to determine among themselves, so I let them return to their rooms and discuss their internal issues. Líann claimed to have an additional matter to address with them, so she left with the advisors while I retreated upstairs.

  “What did you do with the body?” I asked Tási as we started walking.

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d want, so I stashed him in one of the empty rooms,” she told me.

  “I may have just the thing in mind for him,” I stopped for a moment. “Something truly appropriate.”

  Tási looked at me with a puzzled expression as I came to a halt, but I signaled for her to wait for a moment as I reached out for Bane.

  ‘Bane,’ I called to him. ‘Gilfri’s advisor killed him and we’re trying to decide what to do with his body.’

  Are you offering me what I think you are, Sintári? He replied in my mind with a barely concealed sense of anticipation.

  ‘Yes I am, Bane.’

  Where is it? I felt his hunger in my mind.

  ‘I will bring it to one of the balconies; meet me there.’

  Tási led me to the room where she’d placed Gilfri’s corpse, and before I had Rhia–of course–and one of the other guards heft him away, I made a quick check for any special loot, but all he had of interest was his crown and a small coin purse, so I tucked them away as we headed for the nearest exit.

  The balcony on that level was rather large, as it was designed to be an extension of one of the gathering areas and intended to host outdoor events, weather permitting. We laid out Gilfri’s body on the stone floor, and Bane came to a landing next to me just as Rhia pulled the blanket from around his corpse.

  Do they know what I’m going to do with it, Sintári? Bane asked, almost self-consciously.

  ‘Do you want them to?’ I asked.

  I’d rather not.

  “Bane,” I said aloud. “Please dispose of this as you see fit. You may deposit these remains in the wilds or drop them on the mountaintop. The decision is up to you.”

  Thank you, Sintári, he replied in appreciation as he scooped up the corpse and flew off into the distance.

  As I watched him fly away with his prize, I hoped that he would gain the Aura he needed from Gilfri’s body. The last time he’d eaten a sentient, it had been one he’d killed h
imself. The Aura from that kill had provided Bane with the final energy he needed to complete his transformation into a true dragon. Although Bane still craved the flesh of sentients, neither of us knew precisely what consuming even more of them would do for him.

  When he finally vanished from sight, I headed back to my rooms again. It had been an eventful day, and its culmination with Gilfri’s death, while… unanticipated, put a rather happy spin on things for me.

  Once we made it back, I curled up with Tási and enjoyed the feeling of having succeeded in removing the threat Gilfri had posed for so long. Wenflé or one of the other advisors would be taking the throne of Olóra soon, and I was certain that their rule would be much more positively inclined towards my Empire than Gilfri had been. As we lay together, I opened my notifications to read the prompt that I’d noticed pop up after Gilfri’s death, but had chosen to ignore at the time.

  Quest, The Uniter, Advancing – You have successfully orchestrated the elimination of a rival for the first time. While your hands may not have wielded the blade, it was you who set the events in motion that led to Gilfri’s demise. For your devious, manipulative, yet necessary actions, you have been rewarded with 11,000 XP.

  You have gained a level! – You have earned sufficient experience to advance to level 34.

  You have gained three Attribute points. Two of your points have been automatically assigned to INT and CHA. You may assign the remaining point to any other Attribute as you see fit.

  I once more put my lone point into Strength and let the sarcastic message vanish from the screen. As the image faded away, Nentai’s face staring into mine came into view.

  “You look really odd when you do that, Dreya,” she commented offhandedly.

  “Don’t do that!” I startled as she was peering at me a little too closely.

  “Sorry, dear,” she replied unconvincingly. “It was just a little too curious for me to ignore.”

  “Well here’s something else I’m not going to let you ignore,” I immediately started in on the Goddess. “You keep popping up and then vanishing before I can get any real answers out of you. So, this time, I’m going first.”