I tossed the crystal up into the air, snatching it before it could hit the ground. What should I do with this fragment anyway? Selling it would be a bit of a waste. They weren’t exactly easy to find… although Guiding Moonlight might help with that in the future.

  [Nighteye barely restrains herself from sending a strong reprimand at your careless treatment.]

  Yep, yep… I tossed it even higher, this time letting it bounce on the couch. I reached to my side and sipped a cup of coffee. The fragment didn't burn me as it had back at Mimic’s Tear. It seemed the Dew reset my body’s condition once more. It was only a matter of time till I declined again though. This was all so much easier back when I had my armor that took care of my condition.

  I had one bottle left from the supply Pursius sent me, so I wasn’t too worried about that. Rent would be fine. I’d already set aside four grand to take care of all of that and any other living expense over the next little bit. That left fifteen thousand Nytes. Should be more than enough for anything that cropped up.

  Should I… go see a Mythek? I did my research on Fragments recently. They were a core component for Warden gear, and allowed a simple enchanted piece to become bound OS loot. The ones that turned said Fragments into such strong items? Mytheks. Back in my homeland, they would’ve been called smiths.

  Interestingly, they weren’t entirely bought out by corporate entities. I mean, sure, Teotl Regorged had massive workshops in that volcano of theirs, but there were just as many private workshops scattered around the city. The issue was knowing which one to go to. Hmm…

  “What are you thinking so deeply about?” Lucia asked me from the door to the bathroom. Steam poured out from behind her as she casually ruffled a towel through her beautiful golden hair. She was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and shorts. All gifts. from Kali.

  “Mythek.” I replied without thinking too much about it and reached for the Fragment.

  Lucia’s silver eyes tracked my motions, widening slightly. “Is that a Fragment? How- no… um… do you not have a Mythek?”

  ”…” I shook my head, tossing the Fragment into the air once more. What a pain.

  ”I- um- Cernobog has one. Had one. She’d probably still take a request though? She’s a bit…” Lucia tilted her head slightly, her eyes flicking in thought. “Well, she’s trustworthy, at least.”

  “…?” Why would Cernobog have a Mythek?

  ”We used to employ Wardens. The usual for advertising, corporate duels, and such.” She shook her head, sighing. Her expression turned sour. “The Head of Marketing cut it, claiming we had no need for them. In hindsight, they were probably trying to weaken Cernobog Industries’ strength for their takeover. I should’ve fought it harder.”

  “Yep?” I had no one else to go to. Besides, I could always go somewhere else if this one didn’t pan out.

  ”Can I- can I come with you?” Lucia toyed with the towel hesitantly.

  I eyed her for a moment. Hmm… Would Kali throw a fit? Would it be irresponsible to take her with me? I wasn’t going anywhere dangerous, so probably not. In fact, it’d be more responsible, yep? I could buy her some clothes afterwards too. Wearing Kali’s old stuff was fine, but it was a bit… I’m sure Lucia would appreciate having her own stuff.

  That, and I could get her a weapon. There was a rift I had my eye on that I wanted to take her to. Getting her some Skills now would drastically increase her survivability in case I wasn't around.

  “Yep. Get ready.” I raised my Glass while Lucia walked off to get ready to go. After calling a cab, I moved too. I didn’t want Nyx to be associated with Lucia, so I went and changed into the white clothes of Moon. My original set was toast, but I had more than one just in case.

  — — —

  Was this… right? The cab sped off behind us, leaving Lucia and I stranded in Neo-After, just north of Aegis. It was a shopping plaza situated inside of a roundabout. Kind of cool looking, with holographic advertisements and pedestrian bridges cross-crossing over the busy roundabout.

  The store in question looked like a small hole in the wall. A giant neon sign hung from the red painted storefront, with holographic chopsticks dipping in and out of a bowl constantly. The Twisted Noodle, as it was called.

  No way this was right. I needed a Mythek, not a chef- no, no. I'd been questioning Lucia too much recently. The girl may be young, but she was more capable than I was giving her credit for. Heck, she was even planning a corporate downfall all by herself. Surely I could give her some more faith?

  Lucia waved me over. ”It’s just inside.”

  I hesitantly followed behind her, sweeping the surrounding people with my eyes. I pretended I didn’t see anything as I mentally pulled out four suspicious people. They blended in well, but I remembered seeing them all just outside my apartment. More accurately, I remembered their heavy chrome. Assassins? Hmm…

  No. I didn’t think so. Some kind of corporate guard? Lucia did mention the Head of Security was still on her side, so it wasn’t improbable. They were sweeping the surroundings, seemingly much more focused on warding off threats than finding an opportune moment to strike. Observe for now?

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “C’mon, Aylin.” Lucia grabbed my hand, pulling me after her. I barely held back a flinch as I felt her warmth press into my frigid hands. “No time to mope around.”

  “…” Ugh- not her too. It was bad enough hearing Kali say that. And I didn’t mope, I brooded. Very big difference.

  She pulled me into the shop. A rather short man stood behind the counter, hurriedly cooking up a storm. He casually chatted with… a golem? It was a hulking earthen hunk, with herbs growing along the tops of its stone arms and torso. A dandelion grew out of a crack in the golem’s head. Interestingly, the golem likewise assisted in cooking. More accurately, the golem did most of the cooking and seasoning.

  The language wasn’t one I recognized, and spoke with extremely quick syllables. It was translated by All-Speech just the same though. “… you believe it? I can’t! The Warden practically fainted with anger! Who would’ve thought my girl would awaken a taunt Trait next?!”

  The golem glanced at us, nodding its head. A noise akin to boulders rumbling against each other came from its chest, drawing the attention of the chattering man. “Oh! Customers! Why didn’t you say something, Elion?”

  The golem shot a look at the short man, the rumbling noise coming back in full force as it clobbered to the other side of the kitchen. The short man just sighed before turning toward us and speaking in common. “What can I help you with?”

  ”Is Clover in?” Lucia asked politely and pulled me up to the counter.

  The man stared at us for a moment. His eyes flicked from me to her repeatedly. “Who’s asking? Friends? No, who am I kidding? My daughter doesn’t have any of those.”

  Lucia chuckled slightly. “Friends.”

  “Well I’ll be…” The man shrugged and pulled off his chef’s hat. To my surprise, rabbit ears flopped out of the hat, sticking straight up. A faunite? “Let me go see if she’s up.”

  The rabbitkin hopped over the counter and jaunted off toward an employee-only door. Aside from the ears, he looked entirely human. Completely different from Shrix. To be fair, the faunite had a lot of variability in how much they took on aspects of their species.

  That just left us standing there, watching the golem take over cooking. It seemed quite skilled at it, which was completely contrary to its bulking form. It had a level of finesse I doubt I’d have even when fighting. It casually pulled out a bundle of fresh herbs from its arm and dropped them into the pot, stirring the entire time.

  Was that- was that sanitary? Hmm… they’d probably be fresher than anything else in the city. And it seemed like the customers chowing down around the Twisted Noodle didn’t care too much. The scent of the food was even hitting me.

  After a few minutes, the rabbitkin returned from down a side hall. He waved a lazy hand back the way he came. “Head down past the employee only sign. Third door on the left.”

  “Thank you!” Lucia called out cheerfully and turned around. She passed by a new ‘customer’ entering just behind us.

  ”…” I casually shifted my hands into my jacket. I was going to form a dagger, but there wasn’t enough space in the white tech jacket, so I settled with studded knuckles for now. Just in case. “Follow?

  Lucia glanced over her shoulder toward what I was motioning at. Her eyes widened slightly, though the expression was quickly covered up. She flashed an apologetic smile. “Just- uh- just ignore them? Ugh- of course they’d find me. They’re Tenok, the shadow guard of Cernobog.”

  Shadow guard, huh? I eyed the Tenok warily. Lucia didn’t seem to care all that much. She led the way down the hall to the room the owner told us about. As soon as the door opened, the soundproofing for the room broke. Loud clanking coming from within, followed by heavy rock at a decibel that sent tremors through my body.

  The room beyond was a workshop of sorts. It was covered in flickering terminals, components, and machinery I couldn’t even take a guess at. Glowing parts and runes lay on the work table, seemingly abandoned next to half finished projects. Ether pulsated throughout the room in constant waves like some kind of chaotic ocean.

  A super short girl sat at a work table, pounding away on a piece of metal. Her rabbit lop-ears flopped with every impact of the hammer. Although she was short, maybe only up to my stomach, the rabbitkin was absolutely jacked. She bobbed her head erratically to rock poured from a nearby speaker.

  ”Hey!” A shout came from Lucia, barely making it over the ambient noise.

  “Gah!” The Mythek jumped, springing upward. The momentum from a missed swing sent her tumbling to her feet. She collapsed into a heap on the floor with limbs flipped in every direction. She didn’t even try to stand up, cowering with her ears pressed over her eyes. “Ghost!”

  Lucia sighed and headed for the speaker, shutting it off. “Not a ghost, Clover.”

  The tiny girl’s nose twitched erratically. She still refused to look at us as if she were trying to play dead. ”B-but they s-said you died!”

  “People lie.” Lucia lent a hand down. “Look- if I was dead? You’d be the last person I wanted to haunt.”

  The girl hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching up. She poked testingly at Lucia’s hand. It must’ve felt alive enough. She immediately bounced to her feet, wrapping Lucia in a tight hug. Large tears leaked from her eyes. “Lucia!”

  “There there.” Lucia froze up, slowly patting the frightened rabbit on her back. She shot me a look that practically screamed ‘help me’.

  I coughed lightly at the entrance to the room, drawing attention to myself. “Need Mythek?”

  Clover immediately released my ward, bouncing back to her work table to shut off a couple of tools. ”Oh! Is that why you’re here?”

  “Yes… Moon here’s the newest Warden… um… hired?” She shot a look at me. Was I hired? So far this was technically closer to a gig. “Hired by me. Personal guard. This is Clover.”

  The Mythek wiped her hands and reached out to me. “Nice to meet you!”

  Her hands, although tiny as fitting the rest of her size, were covered in heavy calluses. I rifled around in my pocket for the Fragment, pulling it out and handing it to her. “Here.”

  Clover snatched the crystal from me. “A Fragment!”

  Lucia mouthed to me. ‘Sorry about her.’

  I just shook my head and watched the excited girl bounce over to a bunch of complicated tools. She shoved the Fragment into a glass tube. Sensors whirled and a terminal lit up. “Ugh- it’s only low grade… still be able to fetch a nice price for it. Whaddaya want? Tool? Armor? Weapon?!”

  ”…?” I shrugged. No idea, really. Ebonshroud took care of most things.

  ”Fair, fair… it’ll be easier to figure it out once we know what this is a fragment of…” She cocked her head to the side. “You going to be here long? I need to Decrypt the Fragment to see what we’re dealing with.”

  “How long? We were planning on doing some other stuff around here.” Lucia waved a hand back the way we came.

  Clover tapped around on her terminal. “Um… a couple hours? This one’s on the upper end of low grade, so I shouldn't need much more than that.”

  Lucia pulled on my hand toward the exit. “Right. We’ll come back then.”

  I allowed her to drag me out. If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have let her drag me along so easy. Little did I know she was pulling me into a unique form of hell. One that seemed to never end. Shopping.