Advent of eternity a lit.., p.41
Advent of Eternity: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Shattered System Book 1), page 41
She extended a hand to him expectantly.
“What are you, a princess?” Cyll asked, grabbing her by the collar and yanking her upright. “You could look a little grateful.”
“Gods, you’re uncouth,” the woman said, her eyes wide. She brushed her collar off and shook her head, blinking furiously. “You do good work, though. Illusion, you said?”
“Better if you forget all about it,” Cyll said with a sigh. “Please, the exit?”
The woman rubbed her wrists and nodded. She glanced around the room, locating the exit and starting toward it. She turned back and watched Cyll, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
“Waiting for something?”
“Nope. Just enjoying the scenery.” Cyll followed after her, repressing the urge to curse.
“Who are you?” the woman asked. “I’ve never known the guild to work with third parties.”
“Does it matter? I saved your asses.”
“And you speak like a pirate. You do good work, though,” the woman said as they headed up the stairs. Cyll’s eye twitched.
“That’s me. Loud and effective, like a big ole dog. I can bark on command, too.”
“Oh? Do demonstrate.”
Cyll bit back a laugh—he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction.
“Weren’t you concerned about that leader coming back and causing problems?”
“That was only before you unchained me,” the woman replied, turning back to smirk at him. “I was caught unawares before. That will not happen again. If you won’t tell me your affiliation, at least give me your name.”
“No.”
“What? Why?”
“You don’t seem to understand the concept of wanting to remain anonymous. I just saved your stupid bum—the least you could do is not question why.”
The woman spun, crossing her arms, and Cyll nearly ran into her.
“Are you trying to annoy me? I asked you a question, you hairy brute!”
“Hairy brute? Did you learn your cursing skills from a nanny?” Cyll asked with a snort. “Get out of my way, shrimp. Your attitude is begging for a boot up your ass, and I’m not nearly nice enough to deny it much longer.”
Her eyes widened. “How dare you? Nobody speaks to me like that! I— Wait. Do you not know who I am?”
“I genuinely could not care less,” Cyll replied. He stepped past her, pushing the door open and stepping into the night. Yells were rising up around the city as the escaped slaves cried for help. That wasn’t good. He needed to get out of here.
“You mean you didn’t come there to save me?” the woman asked, grabbing the back of his shirt as he made to leave.
“I’m about to un-save you,” Cyll said flatly, whacking her hand off. “You don’t have much rattling around inside your head, do you?”
“You saved us for no reason?” the woman asked, completely ignoring him. “Not because I was there?”
“I. Do. Not. Know. Who. You. Are,” Cyll said. “And if you want to repay the favor, you don’t know me, either.”
The woman stared at him, her eyes seemingly searching for any signs of deceit. Cyll turned and strode into the night, leaving her behind him. He didn’t have any more time to waste on her.
He wove through the streets in case anyone had tried to tail him. Guards ran through the streets toward the warehouse as yells rose up. In order to avoid the crowds, Cyll hopped between alleyways and kept to the shadows. It took nearly an hour for him to return to the inn, where he climbed back into his room through the window.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Cyll stripped off his ruined clothes. There wasn’t much left of them in the first place—the slavers had been pretty thorough about that. He briefly considered returning to their warehouse to piss on their bodies but decided that probably wasn’t worth the effort. Probably.
Once he was properly clothed once more, Cyll slipped out of the room. He wasn’t sure where Knell was sleeping, so he padded over to Stix and Maya’s room and rapped on the door quietly.
It swung open almost instantly. Cyll raised an eyebrow as he came face to face with Maya rather than Stix. She stepped outside and shut the door behind her.
“I wasn’t doing anything,” Maya whispered.
“Didn’t accuse you of doing something, but now I think you are,” Cyll whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”
“I don’t want to wake Stix up.”
Cyll cocked his head to the side. “Are you telling me you’re trying to run away? That doesn’t seem like a very wise move considering I’ve been ordered to make sure you don’t do exactly that.”
“What? No. I’m going to go train. I just didn’t want to wake her up.”
“Right,” Cyll said. “Not suspicious in the slightest. What are you training?”
“Everything.”
“Very thought out. Nice,” Cyll said. “Don’t care, though. Where’s the cap sleeping? I need to talk to him.”
“That room,” Maya said, pointing across the hall. She paused and sniffed the air. “You smell like blood. Like, really badly.”
“I had a rough night. Go back in your room.”
Maya pursed her lips and turned, walking back through the door. She shut it quietly, and Cyll shook his head. That was Knell’s problem, not his. He walked over to the door Maya had indicated and knocked on it.
A minute later, it creaked open. Knell’s glowing yellow eyes faded back to their normal color, and the captain shook his head. “I interrupted my meditation. This better be good, Cyll.”
Cyll cleared his throat and followed his captain inside the room. “About that…”
87
Knell shut the door and sat down on his bed. The look in Cyll’s eyes told him something had gone horribly wrong, but considering the immortal wasn’t telling him to get moving, he doubted it was going to be too urgent.
“What happened?”
“I went looking for something interesting to do,” Cyll replied. “As one does when they get to a new city.”
“Can’t say I agree there, but continue.”
“Well, I found two suspicious-looking blokes lugging a bag, so I followed them. Made my way into what I thought was a petty crime ring. Turns out, it was a little more. There were a little under thirty assholes there. Slavers.”
Knell’s lips pressed together. “Related to the other ones we ran into?”
“Unlikely,” Cyll replied. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t get a chance to find out. I killed every last one of them.”
“Ah,” Knell said, relaxing and sitting back slightly. “Then there’s no problem. Nobody will mourn a slaver. Frankly, you did us a service—wait. The slaves?”
“The slaves,” Cyll repeated, wincing. “They were there.”
“They saw the fight?”
“Most of them did. I told them I was an illusionist and I hadn’t actually been injured, but I don’t know how much they bought it. And it’s not just that—the people that got kidnapped weren’t just random blokes. They were guildies.”
Knell’s hands clenched, and he drummed his fingers on his knees. “That is a problem. The illusionist argument was a good cover, but it won’t be the best. How many got a good look at your face?”
“A few.”
“Damn,” Knell said. “We can hope that they don’t spread rumors around too much, but it’s inevitable with this sort of thing. That’s going to cause you some trouble in the near future, Cyll. If people suspect the true nature of your abilities, you’re going to have a very difficult time in fights against informed opponents—especially with your current fighting methods.”
“Hey, I’ve been working on them,” Cyll said, crossing his arms. He paused for a moment, studying Knell. “You aren’t angry that I let the slaves go while they had a chance to know what my abilities do?”
Knell ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Cyll, I’m doing this to destroy the gods. I want to protect innocents. You took a risk by letting them live, but it’s one I would have taken as well. Granted, I would have tried to make sure they never saw what happened in the first place, but things rarely go exactly how you want them to. Not every variable is under our control. We just have to do the best we can with what we have. Do you feel like their lives are worth trading for the secret of your abilities?”
“Eh. They’ll be dead in a few dozen years anyway,” Cyll said with a shrug. “It was just a moment of weakness.”
Knell’s eyes bore into the other man’s. “You don’t believe that.”
Cyll pressed his lips together. Then he gave his captain a shrug. “Perhaps not. Slavers are scum.”
“Then you don’t regret your decisions. They’ll cause us some trouble, but I think the payoff was worth it,” Knell said. He slid back off the bed and step-tapped over to the door with the help of his staff. “Now get out of my room and let me meditate. And get some damn sleep. If you’ve been running around all night, you’re going to be insufferable tomorrow.”
Cyll smirked. He rose to his feet and inclined his head. “You aren’t as evil as you try to look, Cap. See you tomorrow.”
He slipped out the door and shut it behind him, leaving Knell in the darkness of the room. Sighing, Knell walked over to his bed and sat down, massaging his forehead.
How did Cyll manage to just stumble across a slaver ring, purely on accident?
The words he’d told Cyll had been true, though. His secret wouldn’t have been kept forever, and trading it for the lives of a bunch of slaves was a worthy deal. He’d just have to think up a new approach to make sure Cyll’s effectiveness wouldn’t drop in their future fights.
Yawning, he laid back on his bed and closed his eyes, slipping into meditation. There were still a few hours left in the night, and he had no plans of wasting any of them.
The next morning came on far earlier than Knell had hoped. Rays of warm light poked through the stained window, illuminating his bed and warming his face as the sun rose over the city.
Knell opened his eyes. The night hadn’t gained him any advancements in strength. If anything, they had a potential setback from the freed slaves. There was always a chance they wouldn’t say anything, but Knell wasn’t optimistic.
He got out of bed, preparing for the day before heading out of the room and down the stairs into the common room of the inn. Cyll was already sitting at one of the tables, a large pile of greasy meat on a pleat before him.
“Hey, Cap,” Cyll said through a mouthful of food, raising a hand in greeting. “You’re up late.”
“I didn’t give any schedule for when I’d get up, so I am up precisely on time,” Knell replied. He sat down beside Cyll and stole a strip of jerky from the plate. “Have Stix and Maya come down yet?”
“They were here before me, actually,” Cyll replied. “They’re out practicing.”
“In the middle of a city?”
“There’s a small grassy area behind the inn,” Cyll replied, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Apparently they got permission to mess around back there. It’s pretty funny. Have you ever seen someone do a pushup with one hand?”
“No.”
“Neither have I,” Cyll said. “But Maya isn’t doing a great job of it. I think she likes the taste of grass.”
“At least she’s trying to improve herself,” Knell said, cocking his head to the side. “I don’t see you doing anything like that.”
“Seriously? After everything I did last night?”
“Killing a bunch of rats is hardly cause for celebration. Good deeds do not a powerful warrior make.”
Cyll narrowed his eyes and pointed a sausage at Knell. “You stole that. There’s no way that’s original.”
“My father’s quote,” Knell admitted with a grin. “It does sound pretty intimidating, though, doesn’t it?”
“Bah. You’re just a sourpuss,” Cyll said, stuffing a handful of food into his mouth and rising from the table. “Since you put things that way, I’m going to go join them. I’m sure they’ll appreciate my company far more than you will.”
He strode off, pushing through an old door at the back of the room. Knell caught a glimpse of trodden grass before the door swung shut. Shaking his head, he plucked another piece of meat from the plate and popped it into his mouth.
“Excuse me?”
Knell turned to face the waitress that had stopped by his table. She flinched at the sight of his face.
“Can I help you?” Knell asked.
“Ah…you’re with the man that was sitting here, right?”
“I am.”
“You still need to pay for that plate, then. He said he’d pay after eating.”
Knell’s eye twitched. Cyll had played him. He dug through his pockets and pulled out a silver, handing it to the waitress. She took it with a tight grin and quickly retreated to the safety of the kitchen.
He picked at the plate for a few more minutes, eating until he was full, then stood and headed out the back of the inn, curious to see what his crew was getting up to.
The grassy patch behind the inn was pretty small, only about the size of a single room. Several barrels were stacked against the inn’s wall, and the other sides of the area were the walls of neighboring buildings.
It was fairly secluded from peering eyes, although Knell suspected someone could still easily see into it from the windows above them or from the nearby rooftops.
In the center of the grassy patch, Cyll sat on top of Maya’s back as her one arm struggled with exertion to keep herself from falling. Stix stood across from them, stains from the grass on her clothes.
Maya collapsed to the ground with a groan, knocking Cyll off. He bounced to his feet and clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“You’re lasting less than you did before.”
“That’s how training works, idiot,” Maya groaned, rolling over. Her chest heaved, and her face was red. She locked eyes with Knell. “Oh. Hi. We were, uh…”
“Training,” Knell finished. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen it done like that, but I’m not the most physical of people. I’m sure you all know better.”
“We did it all the time in my tribe,” Stix said proudly. “It’s very effective.”
“Oh, is it?” Knell asked. “I was unaware that this was standard fare for warriors.”
“Not just standard,” Stix said conspiratorially. “A secret Hunter training regimen that my brother taught me.”
Knell nodded sagely. “I see. One that you tried yourself?”
“Yeah, we did it a few times,” Stix said, trailing off with a frown. Her face paled as realization washed over it. “Wait.”
Cyll burst into laughter. “Oh, man, I thought you were just pulling one over Maya.”
“I mean, it’s more weight!” Maya exclaimed. “That means it should work!”
“Sure, but I can think of half a dozen better ways to get strong,” Cyll said with a snort.
Stix buried her face in her hands with a groan. “He was just messing with me? But we had an entire training regimen!”
“And you did that every single time?” Knell asked.
“No, we did some other things. Like running target practice and such,” Stix replied, talking through her fingers.
“Well, that sounds real,” Maya said, sitting up and trying to brush some of the grassy stains from her clothes to no avail. “Although I don’t think that’ll be much use for me. A bow isn’t going to do me much good with one hand.”
“Not to mention we’ve already got someone that uses a bow,” Cyll said, nodding to Stix. “Get your own cool thing.”
“Crews can have more than one person that uses the same weapon, you know,” Maya muttered. She shot a glance at Knell, but he just shrugged.
“Why would they do something like that?” Cyll asked. “That sounds stupid. It completely ruins the scary factor if everyone has the same weapon. We need to be unique.”
“The bandits mostly used swords,” Stix pointed out, looking back up at them.
“And now they’re dead.” Cyll crossed his arms. “See? Point proven.”
“I think training appears to have ended,” Knell observed. “That means we are now officially wasting time. Either go find a better way to train or follow along—I don’t care. I’m going to go check on our flag and see how it’s doing.”
“Oh, count me in for that!” Stix said, pushing away from the wall. She stopped to help Maya to her feet and flicked some of the grass off the other woman’s shoulder. “Are you coming, Maya?”
“She doesn’t have much of a choice,” Cyll said, following Knell back into the inn. “She has to go where we do, you know.”
“It still felt polite to ask. Being nice every once and a while wouldn’t kill you,” Stix admonished. “Seriously, think about someone else for once. She’s clearly trying.”
Cyll glanced at Knell, then snorted. “Think about someone else? As if. I’m the only person here who matters, Moon-eyes. Mortals are but ants in comparison to my awe-inspiring form—the cap excluded, of course.”
88
They left the inn and soon stood before Mandy’s store. Knell pushed the door open and stepped inside, the rest of his crew piling in after him. The large woman greeted them with a nod from behind her desk.
“You get the gold?” Mandy asked, walking to stand before them.
Knell counted out the rest of her payment in his hand. “Provided you’ve got the flag, yes.”
Mandy grinned. “Oh, I got the flag. Take a look.”
She turned, crouching to ruffle through the back of a shelf before pulling a folded black bundle out. She set it on the top of the counter and spread the flag out, revealing the design on it.
The seamstress had done exactly as Knell had asked. She hadn’t deviated too far from a typical pirate flag, but it was unique enough to be easily recognizable. The center of the flag had a stark white skull, its jaw hanging askew.
The thorny stem of a rose wrapped around the bottom of the skull, twisting out through the mouth and weaving up to one of the eye sockets, where a bright red flower had taken the place of one of the eyes.
