“You didn’t pay for it,” I smirked, holding his gaze.
Chapter 24
WE SPENT several seconds trying to stare each other down until I realized that I was looking at nothing. Tormis had disappeared.
Yellow light burst out next to the destroyed wall of the Crystal of Negation. It was so bright that I had to put my hand to my forehead and squint, trying to make out what was going on.
The remains of the Crystal were fading, disappearing without a trace. A building appeared in a golden halo of light, its sharp lines sweeping upward. It reminded me of Gothic cathedrals in European cities — high narrow towers, pointed archways, a facade decorated with bas-reliefs. Sunlight poured out from the open enfilade, as if inviting me in.
Quest completed: The Grand Temple of Shadows!
The main shrine of God Tormis was liberated and restored!
Your reputation with Tormis increased by 5000! Current value: 3910/15000 (Respect)
Come in and claim your reward.
A reward? Now that was something I was always prepared for. I slightly chuckled as I looked at the unsheathed blade of Aelmaris. Who could have thought that by the end of the raid, it would house the leader of the Dark Pantheon? I wondered what it could lead to. My head was bursting with ideas on how to use Ananizarte’s capture in my interests. For instance, how much I could get from, let’s say...
All right. I decided to think it out later and hear out the offers of all interested parties. The main point was not to go too cheap. Until then, time to get Tormis’ goodies.
As I walked to the temple, I examined the remains of the Ancients’ machines and the bodies of fallen monsters and Watchers strewn across the cave. Lots of valuables could be collected there, especially if one went through the destroyed Ziggurat. Ellurite slowly poured out of the broken pillars of edra, streaming down the rough floor in gooey rivulets. There’s an enormous deposit of that precious resource just underground, I realized, gradually recovering from the heat of battle. A gallon of purified ellurite cost several hundred gold at the Bazaar. There was an entire sea of it, millions of gallons! The only problem was that getting it out of Helt Akor would be difficult, considering how hard its mining and processing was. In its natural state, it was too toxic for transportation, as it dissolved the packaging and poisoned all escorts. Still, it was worth consideration, considering the size of the deposit.
Incidentally, how were the Watchers doing? I unmuted the Courier voice channel, but nobody seemed interested in my appearance. Listening to the buzzing conversations, I inferred that after their death, the raid hadn’t been kicked out of Helt Akor. They found themselves in a respawn circle inside the Endless Paths. That could happen only if we happened to be on the same Layer as the Anchors, the NPC faction inhabiting Helt Akor. Only three known settlements with their own resp points existed: on the seventh, eighteenth, and thirty-third Layers. That, however, was not one of them, but rather a completely new and previously undiscovered place. The Crossroads had sent us in the very depths of the Endless Paths where no player had gone before. The Watchers were chattering like monkeys. However, someone had noticed my presence.
Olaf: Are you here? What’s happened, why weren’t you answering?
HotCat: It’s a long story.
Olaf: How did the battle end? I see you’re alive.
HotCat: Yes. I don’t have time to tell you everything, Prophet. Let’s discuss it later.
Olaf: All right. Can you get our dropped loot?
HotCat: I’ll take the valuable stuff. I can’t carry everything, you know.
The long light-filled passage led me into a domed shrine. Bright sunlight coming out of nowhere almost blinded my eyes. Giant statues were bent over a square altar: the God of Shadows was present in all of his guises, the Thief, the Wanderer, the Trader, the Beggar, and the Messenger. My old friend in a brown cloak was sitting on the altar, a content smile on his face. It was he who exuded the magic light filling the temple.
“Hi, Cat,” he said, talking to me like to an old friend and gesturing at a place right next to him.
“Come on, have a seat, don’t be afraid!” he laughed, seeing my hesitation. “A god permits you! It’s not like you can sit anywhere else here.”
Slyly, he glanced askance at me as I warily lowered myself on the warm stone, then placed his hand on my shoulder.
“I reclaimed the temple, the source of my power,” he told me, looking pleased. “And I think I owe someone a thank you.”
“Owing is good. You’re welcome.”
Your reputation with Tormis was increased by 50. Current value: 3960/15000 (Respect)
Tormis laughed.
“I really like you, Cat! You have a way with words.”
He patted me on the shoulder, and the Cloak of Shadows that he had once given me changed its color and fabric, becoming dark brown, thicker, and gaining an intricate trimming. Tormis was wearing the exact same one. I quickly opened the interface: yes, my new cloak had the orange coloring of a legendary item.
Cloak of Shadows
Quality: legendary. Material: shadow silk, moon cloth. Personal.
Emissary: increases reputation with all factions venerating Shadow to Respect.
Increases elemental and magic resistance by 50%.
+15 Intellect
Shadow Run: allows user to enter, leave, and move inside Shadow Plane at will. 5 minutes/3 hours.
Teleport to Temple: once per day, allows to return to the Grand Temple to meet your patron. 1 teleport/24 hours.
Grand Shield of Shadows: creates a protective shadow sphere impenetrable to any weapons. Duration: 10 minutes. Blocks up to 10,000,000 damage. 1 use/48 hours.
“Where did the old cloak go?” I asked.
“There,” Tormis informed me. “Reclaiming the temple restored almost all of my power. Now I can once again do this...”
He shook his hands, as if flexing them, and gave me a scrutinizing stare. An invisible force swept me over, hanging me in the air above the altar. A golden glow emanating from Tormis enveloped me, permeating my body.
Legendary archetype unlocked: Deity’s Proxy! You are the eleventh player in Dorsa to receive this archetype! Achievement unlocked: Deity’s Right Hand! You receive...
Do you wish to view the description of the archetype?
Proxy is not a priest or a disciple, but a trusted assistant who received part of a deity’s power. The abilities granted to them depend on the complexity of their task. Proxies act independently, becoming the embodiment of their patron’s ideals.
A legendary archetype! Common archetypes granted one passive and one active skill, uncommon one and two, rare two and two, an epic one added a talent that could be developed. What kind of properties would a legendary one have?
Do you wish to view the abilities of the archetype?
Damn right I did!
The Proxy of the God of Shadows
Rank 1: Shadow Seer (level up abilities to increase the rank)
Passive abilities:
Shadow Sight (1/5): you can see the Shadow Plane and its inhabitants without traveling there. Range: 2-3 steps, clarity: low.
HIDDEN (rank 2 required)
Active abilities:
Shadow Eyes (rank 1/5): you can use the eyes of any shadow in sight.
HIDDEN (rank 2 required)
HIDDEN (rank 3 required)
HIDDEN (rank 4 required)
Talent:
HIDDEN (rank 5 required)
HIDDEN (rank 6 required)
Shoot. The most delicious stuff was hidden. That said, I still had 18 unassigned attribute points in reserve that had piled up over the last month. In theory, I could use them right now to get rank three and unlock new abilities. But I’d rather wait. I was used to making decisions after contemplating them in peace, especially since I had enough time.
As if having heard my thoughts, Tormis said,
“There is one more issue. But let’s talk about it later. I recommend you go back to
Eyre, immediately.”
“To Eyre? Why?” I asked. But once again, I was talking to air. The god had disappeared. Still, I managed to discern an elusive movement — a blurry silhouette that looked like it was viewed through a bottle-glass took off in the air, having grown shadow wings. That was probably the effect of Shadow Sight. Up close, I could see what happened in Shadow Plane. It was an unusual feeling, as if you switched camera mode on your communicator: day, night, infrared... The range really was small, only a few steps.
Eyre. I had to immediately return to Eyre. What for? What could be going on there? And I had no one to ask, either — everyone was in the raid. After some consideration, I wrote to my old acquaintaince.
Captain Panther: Hello, carebear.
HotCat: Hi. Are you in Eyre?
Captain Panther: How did you guess? Yes. There’s a spot of bother here.
HotCat: What sort of spot?
Captain Panther: Everyone’s over, anyway. Pandas attacked the city. Ten of them aggroed in the Upper Quarter. The guards tore them apart, we weren’t fast enough to get involved. Some of them got away, we couldn’t get them.
HotCat: So what did they want?
Captain Panther: We aren’t sure ourselves. They’ve turned some magic shop inside out and that’s it.
A magic shop in the Upper Quarter? The Pandas? I felt a cold shiver as I remembered the words of Roahildorn at our last meeting. “If you don’t want to do this the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way.”
The Upper Quarter of Eyre had only one magic shop. I activated a Soul Stone.
* * *
My worst fears proved true. Deja vu: it had already happened once, when Pandorum took Eyre. Slowly, I closed my eyes and opened them back again, hoping that the vision would disappear. But no. And this time, there wouldn’t be any rollback.
The door to the basement hung on one hinge, kicked down by someone, while jagged slivers of glass peered out of the window frames. The place was thrashed. Cabinets were overturned, the floor littered with shards of broken potion vials. A fierce battle had taken place there — the furniture, the walls, and the staircase bore marks of blows, and the fallen unicorn effigy had several arrows thrust into it.
On the second floor, on my way to the bedroom, I tripped over the body of a black cat lying on the floor. Frederic had been burned by a spell of some kind and even in his death had his claws released. He was silently staring at nothing with his glazed-over yellow pupils. I felt my eyes well up with tears of rage. I hope you can respawn, bro.
Weldy was not inside. There was a message above her bed, pinned with a dagger. A piece of paper with a drawing of a steel spider trampling down Sphere.
The emblem of the Pandorum Alliance.
Everything was clear. I didn’t want to deal with them, and they used foul play: abduction of an NPC I had a close relationship with. Evidently, they had been watching me, searching for my points of weakness and soft spots. Bastards; that’s what they were. But how had they done it? Aggroing inside a city almost immediately summoned NPC guards who destroyed the violators. Had some of them distracted the guards while the others “packed” the girl? Possible. In any case, it must have cost them dearly — the guards were bound to chop down more than a few aggressors. But I didn’t have time to think about it. I needed to rescue Weldy.
A fit of cold rage swept over me, not letting me go. I knew that in that state, I would most likely screw things up rather than solve anything, but I still opened the address book and wrote a message to Jerkhan, the leader of Steel Guard.
HotCat: I didn’t think you would stoop so low.
Jerkhan: Taboos and morality are for fools. The strongest come and take what they want!
HotCat: What do you want?
Jerkhan: You know what we want.
HotCat: All right. I have souls for you. Lots of souls.
Jerkhan: Then come to Atrocity, and we’ll talk!
I willed myself to calm down. Emotions wouldn’t help anything. At the moment, I couldn’t get Weldy out of their clutches; all it would do was pointlessly reveal all my trump cards. I had to turn on my brain and think. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
When I got out of the capsule, it was still before 5 PM. Something sizzled and fizzed in the kitchen. Alena was humming a song. I needed to eat something, I realized, and maybe drink something stiff before sleep. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to relax, and the next day promised to be difficult, with lots of bargaining. But first...
I went to the kitchen and plopped down behind the counter. Activating the virtual keyboard, I started quickly typing, my fingers running over its surface. Alena turned around, smiling, and commented,
“You’ve left your...coffin...early today.”
“Yep,” I gave a meaningful reply, continuing to surf the net. My wife came up from behind and put her arms on my shoulders.
“Wow, you’re tense...and what is that bird?”
She was looking at the virtual screen displaying the logo of one of the biggest alliances of Sphere.
“It’s an eagle.”
A golden eagle on a black background, its wings ominously spread was the long-standing emblem of the biggest alliance of Sphere of Worlds, Navy, which united almost a hundred clans, hundreds of thousands of American and European players scattered over several worlds, such as Russian-speaking Hurd, Shiva, or the Chinese clan “Sovereigns.” Navy had a particular trait. They were the most ardent and radical enemy of Pandorum.
* * *
Next day...
“Good morning, Victor.”
“Maybe for some, but others spent all night sorting out petitions. Five hundred tickets, for hell’s sake!”
“What now?”
“Prayers and altars of one goddess don’t work. It’s as if they’re cut off! Players and NPCs are shocked. We checked the logs — she’s caught inside a Soul Eater. Remember that bugged sword? She’s neither dead nor alive. She’s inside it.”
“Funny. Those Eaters are nothing but trouble. Remember the old team’s reports on Taerland? Makes your hair stand up, and now this. Just ban them, for God’s sake, remove them from the game!”
“You think we didn’t try? The Generator starts acting up immediately. Remember the rollback, when Agasyan himself came to us? When everyone got denied their bonus?”
“Hard to forget something like that. So you don’t take risks anymore?”
“Yeah, forget it. We got a real whupping that time. The Japanese was madder than hell for days.”
“By the way, what does he say about this situation?”
“Nothing. He’s cooped up in a capsule all the time, only gets out to eat. Says he’ll solve this via in-game methods.”
* * *
“She’s not back and not answering prayers. Altars are silent, offerings aren’t accepted. This has never happened before! The priests are panicking. Many have decided that she’s dead!”
“She’s not dead. I know that for a fact,” Tao said, nervously licking his lips.
“Be that as it may. The situation’s out of control. The entire House of Darkness is buzzing like a hornet’s nest. All those gods, demigods, quarter-gods, the commanders of her legions, they’re ready to fight for the empty throne. We’re on the verge of a civil war!”
“Be more specific, Mirgus!”
“Don’t yell at me, Tao. Everyone’s on edge as it is. So you want details? All right! Ardethel left for Irth-Garth. Ahelg is assembling warriors of Ergial and Reithawk on Milwald. Diamant, the Lady’s guardian, has locked the gate of the Dark Hall and warned that he would kill anyone who tries to enter the Claw Tower. Agatosh and his troops are holed up inside the nestled forts in Bear Pass. We aren’t permitted to enter his camp. They say they’re waiting for the order of the Lady — or the one who replaced her. News from Ketel! Ahelmar himself, having heard about these events, turned his warships toward Dorsa. I’ll have you know, he commands ten hordes of seasoned fighters who went to hell and back!”
“T
hat’s enough,” Tao said. “If they meet, it will be a bloodbath. Only Ananizarte’s will managed to keep that pack in check.”
“And if she doesn’t come back anytime soon, she won’t have anywhere to come back to,” Mirgus finished the phrase. “Do you have any thoughts?”
“Yes. I know what to do.”
“You do?”
“Yes, mostly. Tell me one more thing: how are the clan’s finances? In other words, how much money do we have?”
The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 35