Gleam of Darkness

by Elian Tars

  The creatures whirled around, their faces full of hatred, trying to find the unknown archer. They had figured it out pretty quickly, and after a few seconds, forgetting all about me, both Spiders tottered toward the side of the road. One fell some thirty feet away; the other almost managed to reach the road. I got 50% experience for each spider killed.

  I decided to approach cautiously, detouring through the forest a little, and activated Blind Eye as I did, deciding to get close enough to my savior to at least see who it was. The long-haired archer, dressed in a dark green cloak, was sitting astride a bay horse.

  Tael Handsome

  Level 32

  HP: 440/440

  “Why are you hiding?” he asked, looking right through me. I took a few silent steps, and Tael began to look around intently. After a few seconds, the archer was looking at me again, but as though he couldn’t see me. Very interesting...

  “I saw your parameters earlier, Gloomy Bon,” he said. “It’s foolish to hide now and it’s not very nice to the person who just saved you, either.”

  The guardsman, Lerk, must have had a better detection skill — not to mention a higher level — and had thus been able to see through my Blind Eye. I could’ve even run away from Tael, had I decided to do so beforehand. Now I was too close to him and the effect was about to end. Well, that’s ok; I don’t have to run from everyone I meet, right? Unlike with the creatures of Decay, Tranquility of Darkness would work on humans if the situation got too dangerous. Still, using a lengthy conversation to stall until my invisibility’s cooldown ends would be wise.

  “Thank you very much,” I bowed when the Eye effect vanished. “You really saved my life. Please finish these creatures off. The right to do so belongs to you.”

  An arrow that looked like a blue lightning bolt pierced through the head of a Spider. The arthropod squeaked plaintively, trembled, and fell on its back, bending its legs toward its stomach. A second later, the same fate befell its friend.

  Spurring the horse on with his heels, Tael nocked another arrow pointed it at me.

  “That isn’t enough to pay for the help I provided you and to make up for the time I've wasted” he said, aiming at my head. “Who are you, and what did you forget in this destroyed village?”

  Chapter 10

  Trikuni

  I raised my hands, showing that I was willing to cooperate and replied:

  “I’m just a humble traveler. I had wanted to visit a local merchant to restock. But when I arrived to Selbera, I saw only death.”

  “A traveler?” Tael chuckled. “Is there anyone left who doesn’t know that the Decay in this part of the kingdom has practically crept up to the main road?”

  “I really didn’t know” I said hastily.

  “Hmm... And now you know. What are you planning to do, traveler? ” the archer didn’t seem like he was going to put his weapon away.

  “My goals haven’t changed,” I spread my hands helplessly. “I still need a merchant. But I don’t know where to find one…”

  “You know what?” Tael’s face suddenly broke out into a smile, “I can show you the way. Because, wherever you go now, you won’t be able to get there by yourself. You will get attacked along the way. Either by the Decayed, or by bandits, or by someone else. I can take you to Trikuni. My horse could easily carry both of us. It won’t be pleasant, of course, to ride with such a gloomy type behind my back, but what can I do? I can’t just leave you here.”

  Trikuni... Trikuni... I had seen this name on the map, but I had no idea what type of village it was. Bon had no idea either.

  “Are you sure that I’ll find a good merchant there? “ I asked carefully, trying to get some more information from the archer.

  “You’ll be able to find one now,” Tael chuckled and began to look around, frowning. “Decide quickly” he said, without looking at me, but continuing to keep me in his crosshairs. “I will take just two gold coins as compensation for the rescue and the journey.”

  “What makes you think I have two gold coins on me, my good sir?” I tried to bargain, but Tael abruptly turned his bow, releasing an arrow in the direction of the road. There was a rustle in the grass, and a moment later, I saw two Spiders.

  “Another four are approaching,” the archer said, taking out a new arrow. “Two gold coins, or I’ll have to leave you here after all.”

  He was serious, and it was clear that arguing with him would bring me no good.

  “You got it!” I shouted as I ran toward the horse. Tael held out his hand, helping me jump up onto the animal’s back, and within a couple of seconds, we were rushing away from the nightmarish arthropods at full speed.

  We stopped just five minutes later and I started to worry. Who knew what could’ve crossed my savior’s mind. But he only half turned toward me and held out his hand.

  “Two gold coins,” demanded the archer in an even voice. “Or I’ll kill you right here.”

  I had nowhere else to go, and it would be too problematic to try and escape now. Where would I even go? On my own, I would soon die and would have to use my rebirth energy. But I had completely different plans. So I had to pay up.

  We rode on in silence — it was hard to talk while the horse was galloping. What an amazing animal it was! It had been galloping for a whole hour without even slowing down. Where could I get a horse like this?

  Stone battlements loomed on the horizon, behind which stood a rectangular donjon. When we were about seven hundred yards away from Trikuni, Tael pulled back on the reins.

  “Sorry, I can’t take you inside,” the archer said, turning around.

  “Hey now, we had a deal.…”

  “And I got you here,” Tael said. “You just have to walk two more steps. It’s safe around here. Just approach the gate and say that you’re here to trade, and they’ll let you in. Just put on a smile, you’re so damn gloomy! All right, get off my horse,” he repeated insistently.

  “You could’ve told me beforehand that you wouldn’t be taking me all the way up to the gates,” I said coldly, dismounting the horse.

  “And you could’ve thanked me, you grumpy bastard!” The archer chuckled, speeding away on his horse.

  After he was gone, I looked around. There was a thick wall of trees on each side of the road. Nothing else seemed interesting. I opened the map, comparing the sizes of the circles which denoted the settlements. The largest one was called Ekheim and was located further to the southwest. The tiniest circles were villages like Listeri or Selbera. Trikuni was marked with a midsized circle. I counted about five circles of that size on both of my maps.

  I slowly moved toward the stone walls, looking around cautiously. Even though Tael had said that nothing was dangerous around here, I had already grasped that in this hardcore game you couldn’t truly feel safe anywhere.

  However, I didn’t meet anyone on my way to the city, except for a level 55 guard, who looked at me with a frown from atop the city wall.

  One half of the oak gate was wide open, and I saw a cart laden with sacks on the “threshold” of Trikuni. Squeezing past between the cart and the wall, I saw two people.

  “It’s all right, come on through,” the guard waved him on approvingly, and, nodding in thanks, the stout man in gray rags, which looked like a poncho, jumped deftly up onto the front of his coach and urged the horse on with the reins.

  “What do you want?” the guard asked me coolly.

  “Good afternoon,” I nodded when the cart drove off into the city and it became more comfortable to wait at the gate. “I’ve come to your city to find a merchant.”

  “What do you need a merchant for?” the guard snorted. “Thinking of stealing something from them?”

  I was a bit offended by such insolence, but I didn’t show it.

  “Why do you think I’ll be stealing anything? I’m here to trade.”

  “And do you actually have the money for it, you huckster?” the gatekeeper chuckled.

  “I do,” I answered calmly.r />
  “That’s good,” the guard relaxed. “Because entering the city costs one silver and fifty coppers.”

  Well, I guess everybody’s trying to get money out of me today, huh? Tael didn’t bother to warn me about the entrance fee. Or was it possible that there was no fee at all?

  “Okay,” I nodded and replied with a smile. “If I have to, I’ll pay for it. Let’s go to your um... office to fill out the paperwork. You’re not just asking for cash randomly, right?”

  The guard’s eyes widened in surprise, he then winced and spat to the side in exasperation.

  “Getting smart with me? Come on through then, if you’re so smart. But remember, I’m watching you, so you’d better not get into any trouble.”

  Moving aside, the gatekeeper made it clear that the conversation was over.

  “Thank you,” I smiled and strolled past him.

  That was weird. His plan had been quite a plain and simple trick. Did he take me for a fool that would buy it? Or was there an actual entrance fee? Maybe I got added to some sort of a blacklist and should expect some dirty tricks to come my way?

  Nah, that couldn’t be it…

  Okay, I shouldn’t worry about such nonsense. The main thing was that I had finally gotten close to my goal. The only question was: where was I supposed to go now?

  The city turned out to not be a city after all, but rather, a small town that had been built around the walls of a castle with a single tower, which I reached after seven minutes of walking. I wasn’t allowed to walk into the donjon proper, of course — the gates were locked, and another guard was standing on top of them, scowling at me.

  I allowed myself to relax a bit and walk casually through the streets. It’s amazing how far technology had come! You could easily be teleported into a medieval town, breathing in air and the smells, quite unpleasant ones, at that, of the medieval town and feel the breeze on your skin. You could touch the masonry of the buildings, no matter how strange that might’ve looked to someone. It was all so... real, even scary. It was as if I had found myself here not because of a broken virtual reality capsule, but because of some other reason…

  I was a little surprised at the fact that I came across mostly women, old people, and children along the way. Men appeared very rarely. But the fact that almost every person I came across looked at me with a frown, or even averted their eyes, was expected. I wondered what would happen when I finally got a dark cloak and started to upgrade Gloominess further? Although, I still had to think about whether or not it was worth doing so.

  All right, that’s quite enough of acting like a tourist on a field trip to a museum. The day was coming to an end, and I wanted to get everything done before the sun sets.

  “Hey, kid!” smiling, I walked toward a shy boy. He tried to hide his head between his shoulders like a turtle and looked around helplessly, clearly considering his escape plan. “I’ll give you a coin if you help me,” I managed to say before he ran away.

  “Silver?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Silver,” I nodded.

  The boy paused.

  “Silver is not enough,” he said, finally overcoming his fear of my dark appearance.

  “You haven’t even heard what I need from you and you’re already raising the price?” I was taken aback.

  “Oh,” the boy got embarrassed. “What do I have to do?”

  “Tell me where I can buy armor, potions and weapons around here,” I began to list the things I needed. “And are there any merchants or craftsmen?

  “Of course there are,” the boy puffed out his chest proudly. “Over there, across the street,” he waved and stopped short, realizing that he had already given everything away. “What about my money?”

  “Here,” I chuckled and gave him a silver coin. “I’ll give you another one if you show me exactly where I should go.”

  As soon as we came to the right street, I saw several tents and carts in the distance, near the city walls. Some of the carts, I thought, were actually cages on wheels.

  “What is that?” I blurted out in surprise.

  “It’s the caravaneer, Tayon,” the boy explained helpfully. “He comes to our city sometimes. You’re lucky, he won’t be here tomorrow!”

  “Does he sell unique items?” I asked.

  “What?” The little one hadn’t understood me.

  “I said, does he sell any unusual things?”

  “Ah! Aha!” He nodded. “He has dogs. Huge and scary ones!”

  “Well, I’ll be sure to stop by his caravan tomorrow before he leaves...” I muttered, and since the boy was feeling very talkative, I asked another question. “Why are there so few men in the city? Apart from the guards and old men, I’ve seen only women and children so far.”

  It turned out that almost the entire male population of Trikuni served as soldiers for the local baron. Yesterday, they had all, including their lord, set off on a campaign against an “evil neighbor”. That was all I could get out of the boy.

  After paying my guide, I decided to look around all the shops first, then visit Tayon, check out the prices, and then, after gathering all of the information I could check out the market and start trading.

  There were several grocery stores and a barbershop on one side of the street and craftsmen shops on the other. All the sales outlets were on the first floors of their owners’ houses. They were two-story stone buildings with small outbuildings to the side.

  I visited the blacksmith first. As I had expected, the giant, bald man looked at me with disgust. But he didn’t make me leave. He even told me about his products, and then looked at my stuff. The next was the tanner, followed by the tailor, and then the armorer. The last person I went to see was the local alchemist.

  I left everyone feeling upset. The prices were high, and there wasn’t much to choose from. There were some masters, of course, who had things marked with a “rare” tag that gave small bonuses to stats and even skills, but they mostly sold “ordinary” items.

  The good news was that the four Gold Coins of the Duchy of Oruel that I had inherited from my father, were equal to twenty-eight Gold Coins of Longoria. So, adding that to the potential value of my junk, I had about forty gold coins in local currency.

  “What do you want?” I heard a grunting voice ask when I stopped in front of the table which blocked the way to the big red and blue tent.

  Caravaneer Tayon

  Level 68

  HP: 2987/2987

  A black-haired man of about forty, wearing a dark red leather jacket was scrutinizing me with disapproval, reclining in a rocking chair.

  “I heard that one of the best merchants in the area was staying in the city,” I replied. “I just wanted to see his goods. I didn’t think I would run into a bully.”

  Coming closer, I saw that the caravaneer’s place appeared to be even bigger than I had initially thought. It looked like someone was snoring in one of the tents and that the “guards of the caravan” were watching us from the other two — I noticed fighters that were level 68 and 70. And yes, there really were cells on wheels here, and each contained a huge, brawny, sleeping creature that looked like a bull terrier. They were no smaller than a pony, black as the dead of night, but with unusual, dark green patterns all over their bodies. I asked for information on one of the dogs.

  Glozeysk Bullkorg

  Level 30

  HP: 1098/1098

  “Have you seen yourself in the mirror?” Tayon smiled. “You’re so gloomy it’s as if you had just escaped the cemetery. Okay, relax. I’m sure I have something to offer you if you have the money for it.”

  “I do,” I nodded cautiously.

  “Congratulations,” the caravaneer snorted. “Well, what’s my client interested in?”

  “Something that will fight off the creatures of Decay,” I answered quickly. “I asked the local craftsmen, but they just shrugged their shoulders at me, even the alchemist.” For some reason, I had high hopes for him and his dogs.

  “Ugh,
they’re all snobs,” Tayon spat on the ground without any real anger. “They know that I can help you with this, but they keep silent. To be honest, my dear client, they don’t like me. Still, I have the real goods. All they have is garbage. Come on, what exactly do you need against the Decay?”

  “Is there plenty to choose from?” I became animated.

  “Are you even listening to me?” The caravaneer breathed out slowly, but then he said: “First of all, you need a Glozeysk Potion. Drinking one third of the bottle removes all of the minor negative effects of Decay at once, including the lightly critical ones.” I immediately remembered the “minor injury” I had received at level 8. If one could get something similar from Decay, then I must buy this protective mixture. “Two—thirds,” continued the shopkeeper, “will heal everything up to the average critical effects. But, drinking a whole bottle in one gulp removes any effects of Decay whatsoever. And as for bonuses, in any case, you’ll get a total immunity to Decay lasting from two to ten minutes after taking the potion, depending on how much you drank and how much Decay afflicts you afterward. In short, the more effects of Decay you’re hit by, the sooner the immunity will stop, my dear client.”

  Yes, that’s a really useful thing to have! I must purchase it.

  “How much?” I asked, ready to pay.

  “Three hundred gold coins,” Tayon smiled, watching my smile fade away.

  “I was ready to pay...” I should’ve guessed that the price would make it unaffordable if the usual potions that restored HP, MP or energy cost ten gold coins at the local alchemist’s shop. It had slipped my mind and I hadn’t even asked if he had any infusions that healed injuries. Now I was sure that they would cost a small fortune…

  “Too expensive, my dear client?” smiled the caravaneer, as if he were getting some pleasure out of my mental suffering. “Then, I think, I should not offer you a Glozeysk Crystal,” he added and then chuckled.