“Oh, believe it, he did,” the voice replied, “and, of course, I’m sure you know what happened next.”
“I think I can paint a picture,” I said in a dry tone, knowing full well the course of events that would have followed that exchange. “So how did things play out after that?”
“To be honest? Perfectly,” my father replied with a chuckle. “I was able to use the…uh, distraction afterward to sneak past the guards when they came to save the poor man and make my way upstairs. From there it was just a couple of picked locks, a particularly deadly lightning trap, and a hidden safe before I had what we came for. Now thanks to us, Viscount Donnerly is going to be hung for high treason at seven in the morning tomorrow—along with the rest of his co-conspirators. Oh, and we got a big bag of money and experience as thanks as trouble for our efforts.”
“Which is all the motivation that we need for the trials that we put ourselves through, am I right?” I said with a grin after hearing the end to his story.
“That’s right,” he replied, adding another round of laughter before he shifted the subject. “Anyway, though, I think that’s enough about what we’ve been up to. Your mother told me a little while ago that you were all dealing with some sort of orc problem, and that it’s made you wildly famous as a result?”
“Eh, well, I’m not sure it’s made us wildly famous,” I said, unable to help but feel a little embarrassed at my father’s choice of words. “But we’re doing okay so far.”
“Pssh. You’re too humble, Marc. I saw you guys ranking at what…ninety-seven, I think at one point? If that’s just okay, then I think we might need to have a bit of a talk,” he told me.
“Ha, well, if you put it that way, we’re doing awesomely,” I said as I finished my wipe down of the counter and moved on to wash what I’d left in the sink, feeling the need to keep my hands a little busy at the moment. “To the point where it’s feeling a little surreal. Oh, and those orcs aren’t really a problem for us anymore. At least not in the short term for the next couple days, or hopefully weeks. We managed to chase those bothering us off pretty well. Not that there were that many to chase away by the time we were done with them.”
“Now that’s the kind of talk I like to hear!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Now catch me up on what all of that means detail wise, because I’m sure your mom and the rest of your aunts and uncles are gonna want to know as much as me what you all have been up to over the last few weeks.”
“A heck of a lot,” I replied with a shake of my head before I started to fill my dad in on everything that we’d done and had happened to us since the last update I’d passed along. “…so now, the last we’ve heard someone, or something even, completely wiped out the orc city, leaving only a handful of survivors picking through the rubble by the time our other friends arrived. They even somehow blew up the ancient keep that was there.”
“Woof, really?” he asked with a note of surprise coloring his voice. “You think it was maybe that giant lizard that you guys dragged into the orcs earlier that did it?”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug that I knew he couldn’t see. “That’s the guess we’re going with until we find more information to work with. I’m actually heading there right now in-game as we speak. I’m hoping that by the time that I get there, the others will have something more to tell me, or if not, I’ll be able to explore around a bit myself. I figure if nothing else, maybe my new memories will trigger on something there, and I’ll get a better idea of what the orcs have been up to, if not whatever did them in. Then we’ll need to go looking for them I guess, and the other gronn too, assuming that they survived at all. We might have won this battle, but our war isn’t over yet, not by a longshot. We still need to find out what happened to Zhul, let alone track down and find Krol and the rest of this Unshackled Horde of his.”
“Hopefully, they did survive,” my father said in an optimistic tone. “And you know, it really doesn’t sound like you guys ever get a break over there.”
“It sure doesn’t,” I replied, that particular sentiment having come up more than once in the last twenty-four hours. “But I suppose that’s just our lot in l—”
A soft chime suddenly interrupted me mid-speech, followed by Sterling’s voice speaking out a second after.
“I am sorry to interrupt your call, Marcus,” the AI said in a gentle tone, “but you wished to be notified when your guest arrived within the building.”
“Ah, I heard that,” my dad said as soon the voice faded. “It looks like it’s showtime there, Marc.”
“So it does,” I replied, feeling a slight surge of anxiety shoot through me at Sterling’s notification. “Wish me luck?”
“You don’t need it,” he said in a confident tone. “You got this far already. Just keep being you, and I have no doubt that everything will work out.”
“Ha! Tell that to my nerves,” I replied as I took off the thick oven gloves I’d been wearing when I’d pulled out the roaster within. “But thanks, Dad. I’ll catch up with you and Mom next chance I get.”
“Sounds great to me! You take care of yourself over there in the meantime,” he said, the call ending with a beep after a final round of goodbyes, leaving me once again alone by myself in my apartment.
“You got this, Marc,” I whispered to myself as I gave the now immaculate kitchen one final glance, having just enough time to do so before a chime at the door caused my head to snap in its direction.
Feeling my heart begin to beat rapidly, I stared at it for a second before my mind caught up to itself, and I practically ran towards it, stopping just short of throwing it open without a thought. Instead, I paused for another second to take a deep breath and opened it normally.
Revealing Sonia standing on the other side of it.
“Hey,” I said with a smile, feeling my brain suddenly go blank the instant that I saw her.
“Hey,” she replied, her face immediately lighting up in kind the moment she saw me.
That was all that either of us managed to get out before we fell into one another arms and half-stumbled, half-walked back into the apartment, the door slamming shut a second later with a loud bang that neither of us noticed, our minds completely occupied by something else.
So occupied that by the time we remembered that I’d prepared food, it was cold.
***
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2047 – 12:41 a.m.
The Whisperwoods – Valley Pass
Graves
I breathed hard as I struggled up the steep incline ahead of me, hearing nothing other than my rapidly beating heart in my ears with every step I took, its deafening echo drowning out the surrounding night completely.
Ugh, how much farther is it? I asked myself as I glanced farther up the pass, the spell granting me my night vision only managing to reach so far before it abruptly ended, revealing nothing of interest to me. I swear I’ve been climbing this pass forever, and I haven’t—
A flicker of violet light in the distance interrupted my thoughts and immediately caused me to freeze as I focused my attention on it, watching it transform itself into the shape of a wisp. Floating lazily through the air for a few seconds, I saw it begin to fly in a slow spiral away from me, angling itself off the path I’d been following.
A signal? I thought as I began to move after the orb, wondering if it was indeed what I’d dragged myself here to find. Or perhaps it was an elaborate trap of some sort designed to ambush lone travelers foolish enough to make the climb up this pass by themselves.
Like I had.
Honestly, at this point, it doesn’t even matter to me which of the two it is, I thought wearily, the last two weeks of traveling alone having done much to wear down the resolve that I’d started with. If it’s them, it’s them, and everything goes forward according to plan. If it isn’t, and I suddenly end up back in Eberia on my ass, then I’m walking away from all of this. No amount of vengeance is worth needing to do this twice. Even after that damned feed they released.
> Striding forward after the slow-moving wisp with only my thoughts to keep me company, I found the next quarter-hour passing slowly as I was forced to navigate the increasingly treacherous terrain that it led me on. Where my path so far had at least been flat and relatively smooth to climb, this one was rough and perilous, forcing me on more than one occasion to catch myself on a lucky rock before I slid off a hidden ledge and into the endless dark beyond. It was because of that journey that I was caught by surprise when I finally arrived at my destination feeling something akin to a soap bubble pop across my face, followed by the foreboding ridge side ahead of me abruptly rippling with magic.
An illusion, I realized the second after I found myself standing right at the mouth of an exceptionally large cave that hadn’t been there a second earlier, seemingly having materialized out of nothing. But soon I discovered it wasn’t just the cave that had been hidden away from sight, but rather a pair of heavily armored dark elves as well, the two already walking towards me with arrogant expressions written across their faces.
“Graves?” one of them asked in a faintly accented voice, cutting through the need for any introduction.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said, resisting the urge to ask if they were expecting anyone else that would be foolish enough to make the climb this late at night. “I’m here to see Endriss.”
“We know,” the other replied, inclining his head towards the yawning cave. “This way. He is waiting for you.”
With nothing left to say between us, I was then escorted inside, one of them leading the way ahead of me, while the other followed a few steps behind. Moving at a brisk pace, it only took us a few seconds to pass through the cave’s short entrance before it abruptly opened up, revealing a large, well-lit cavern within. Continuing to stride forward as we entered the chamber, I found myself greeted by the sound of countless whispering voices abruptly echoing all around me. Unable to help but feel a little surprised at the noise given the late hour, I glanced around in an attempt to find their source, my eye eventually landing on the form of dozens of other dark elves sitting and lounging in various groups throughout the cavern.
Ascendancy soldiers, or if not that, then mercenaries, I thought, it only taking me a second to see through their lazy façade, noticing that each of them still wore armor despite their lax behavior and that they all had a weapon within reach. Good. I’m sure we can find something to put them to use for.
“You’re finally here,” a voice suddenly called out, causing my attention to pull away from the soldiers and look forward, spotting both a robed dark elf and a vaguely devilish-looking woman, dressed in leather armor striding towards me. “We were wondering if you were going to show up at all.”
“I am a full day earlier than we agreed on, Endriss,” I said to the man, letting his implied barb wash over me in favor of staring at the woman beside him, it only taking me a second to recognize that she too was an adventurer, the revelation immediately setting me on edge. “And who is this? I was under the impression that we were meeting alone, without any other…entanglements present.”
“Originally we were,” Endriss replied, turning to glance towards the woman, who shifted to look back at him in response. “But a few complications forced us to change our plans or accelerate them rather. Hence your being late and her being here.”
“I don’t like hearing about complications this late in the process, Endriss,” I said to the man as I took my eyes off the woman and turned them back towards the dark elf. “And you still haven’t told me her name.”
“My name is Delilah,” she replied, prompting my gaze to shift back towards her. “And I’m the reason why you aren’t hearing about those complications. Or better yet, why you’re hearing anything, and not standing alone in this cave, wondering why there was no one here.”
“So you say,” I said, disliking the tone that she spoke to me with, her entire presence here rubbing me the wrong way. Especially since I felt I recognized her from somewhere, even if I couldn’t place it at first.
Did I see her in his feed before? I wondered as I stared at her vaguely crimson skin and dark hair, my memory stirring slightly, but unable to come up with an answer. Or am I just seeing a common face from one of the others? I must have scanned through hundreds, if not maybe even a thousand different Ascendancy feeds before hatching this plan.
“So I say,” Endriss stated in a final tone as he took a step forward, his words and movement stealing my attention away. “And really my say here is the only one that matters. If you don’t like it, Graves, then you are welcome to leave. Peaceably, of course. But let’s not forget who came to whom here.”
“I came to you because I thought you were a better candidate than Odium,” I stated in a hard tone despite the promise of walking away from this place with nothing to show for it causing my stomach to twist uncomfortably. She wouldn’t be happy if it came to that. Especially not after all the time and effort it had taken her to obtain what I’d asked for. But the last thing I wanted to do was start this relationship off on anything less than an equal footing, or at least the appearance of such, lest Endriss try to make my life more difficult down the line by thinking that he was truly in charge. “Perhaps it’s time for me to reconsider that. Or if not Odium then perhaps Silas instead? Unless I’m mistaken, he should be near here as well?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” the dark elf hissed in response, his voice suddenly wavering as he spoke.
“Look in my eyes and tell me again that I wouldn’t,” I replied to the man as I fixed him with the hardest glare that I could manage. “I don’t need you testing my patience, Endriss. The opportunity that I have to offer is one that can be easily filled by any of them, but I chose you because I thought you and yours were the best of what the Ascendancy has to offer.”
“We are the best it has the offer,” Endriss stated in an angry tone. “You would be throwing away your chance at anything by choosing anyone else.”
“Then don’t force me to do so,” I said in a commanding tone, shifting my focus back over towards Delilah. “Now tell me, how much do you trust her? Enough to trust her with everything we’ve planned?”
“Yes, without reservation,” Endriss replied without a second’s hesitation, his earlier attitude fading away as he glanced over towards her, the woman not having moved an inch during our conversation. “What she said earlier was no lie. We, I, wouldn’t be here without her. Delilah will be nothing but an asset to us. I have no doubt.”
“See that she is, and I will sing her praises as loud as you are right now,” I said, sensing the sincerity behind the man’s words and deciding that it was time to offer an olive branch to the pair if only to cut the tension that had been building steadily in the room, enough so that the other dark elves had stopped whispering.
“Great!” Endriss replied with a sudden happy clap, immediately going on to rub his hands eagerly. “Then let’s move on from that…misunderstanding and get straight into the reason that we’re here. Do you have it?”
“Of course, I do,” I replied, not needing any hint to know what he was asking about as I reached into a pocket and pulled out a small wooden box, the container barely bigger than my palm, and held it out for him.
“So that’s it, huh?” he said as he looked at the box curiously from where he was standing. “It looks a little…small.”
“It’s as big as it needs to be,” I assured, not wanting to tell the man that I’d asked the same question after I’d been given it.
“If you say so,” Endriss said with a shrug before motioning towards the box with his chin. “Open it.”
I froze at the man’s words, not sure that I’d heard them right. “What?”
“Open it,” Endriss repeated, this time his hand coming up to motion towards the container. “Open the box.”
“You want me to open it here?” I asked, not having expected him to be so eager.
“Of course,” he replied in a serious tone. “Where did you think I would open
it? Somewhere where my guild could see it?”
“I don’t…” I started to reply only to allow my words to trail off, instead offering the man a shrug. “Very well.”
It was with a foreboding thought running through me that I thumbed open the box that I held, its lid sliding easily off its top before falling and hitting the ground with a faint clatter. As it did, a thick dark smoke immediately rose from within the box and began to spill over first its edges and then my palm before billowing out towards the floor. Building rapidly with every second that passed, it wasn’t long until the entire cavern was covered in a haze, some of the nearby soldiers starting to call out in concern. But despite their worried inquiries, Endriss and Delilah didn’t say anything, the pair simply standing and watching the box continue to spill forth until it was impossible to see anything in the chamber. It was only, when I finally couldn’t see the box myself despite it being in my hand, that I felt something violently erupt out from it with enough force to tear it from my grasp, a hungry growl reaching my ears.
Followed by the first screams echoing out a heartbeat later.
***
Purgatory
“Oh, that was brilliantly done!” Creativity squealed with the sound of utmost joy in her voice as she clapped her hands together in excitement, her eye tracing a path on the Grand Tapestry that she hadn’t looked in on for what felt like an age. “It was bold. Daring. Unexpected. Everything that I was hoping for and more when I gave you all that challenge. You will all go far. Unlike this one.”
Her praise came into an end as she reached out to pluck at the crimson strand that paralleled the others before her, finding it to be weak and lifeless to the touch, something that caused her heart to falter.
“I tried to teach you, to show you that you needed more than just yourself,” she said, doing her best to smooth it out, but to no avail. “But you didn’t listen. Didn’t want to listen. And now you are where you are.”
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 99