LOCATION: THE CRUCIBLE, 100TH FLOOR
PLANET: LAPIS DIVINUS, ORION LUMINARY INSTITUTE
YEAR: ? | DAY: ?? | TIME: ??
The Scouts spread out across Caerwyn City, working in their different capacities and listening for gossip. For any information that might lead them to understand what had happened here.
Kaela moved freely through the town, stopping to sell her healing poultices here and there. Just enough so she didn’t raise suspicion with the mercenaries who were constantly patrolling the streets.
On her third day in the city, one of them stopped her.
“Oi, do you have anything for bedsores?”
Kaela did her best not to let him see her face, but when she noticed he was staring at her chest instead of into her eyes, she relaxed a bit.
“Yes, sir. I have something that might work for that, but I’d need to inspect the patient.”
“Just sell me as many as you got. E’s a prisoner so there’s no need to go overboard with it.”
Kaela took a step forward, forcing the brutish mercenary to pay more attention.
“If you want my help, take me to the patient. Otherwise, move along. I’ve got other clients to visit.”
“Ow dare you!” he said, reaching for his weapon. But another hand closed around the man’s throat.
“Leave your weapon sheathed and move along. I’ll handle this.”
The mercenary gulped hard, and bowed, scurrying away like a rat running into an alley.
“My apologies, miss. They apparently haven’t learned the basic rule of society, which is to always treat healers with respect.”
“It’s… it’s no trouble, Milord,” Kaela stammered, trying to appear humble and frightened, neither of which was true.
In reality, she had brushed her fingers against the hilt of her Phantom Blade and had been prepared to separate the foolish guard’s head from his shoulders.
“We’ve got a few prisoners in the cells below the city who are in need of assistance. If you’re willing, we can pay you well for your services.”
Before Kaela could answer, he added: “Oh, and there’s no reason to cure them completely. They are prisoners. Just get rid of the worst of their pain so they will keep talking. That’s what we need. Can you do that?”
Kaela’s left hand balled up into a fist, but she held back.
“Yes, sir. It would be my honor.”
“Good, follow me then.”
He led her on a long walk through the streets and to a part of town Kaela had not seen before. The people were dirtier here, and the buildings more run-down.
Kaela even spotted one of her Scouts on the street as they walked. He was the one dressed as a beggar.
He brushed against her and the guard on the way by, and Kaela felt a number of items fall into her pocket.
She was impressed at the Scout’s pickpocketing skill and made a mental note to check what he had given her later.
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The man led her to a well-guarded gate. Once through, they descended a staircase that went deep below the city.
Kaela immediately heard the rhythmic crack of a leather whip on skin, followed by screaming and whimpering.
“Apologies for the noise, miss,” the guard said. “You get used to it after a time.”
She wanted to say something, but she needed to get to the bottom of this first. Eventually he brought her into a hallway lined on both sides with jail cells.
The stench of urine and feces almost made her gag. She pulled a cloth out of her satchel and tied it around her face.
Of course she had turned down her sensory inputs until she smelled almost nothing. The precise control afforded by the System allowed for such a thing. But the cloth was more to cover her face.
Because the first prisoner she saw was someone Kaela recognized. One of the royal guards who had escorted her to Seraph’s Hold. And the last thing she needed was for one of them to yell out “Princess Kaela!”
As she was led down the line of cells, she even recognized Ellister Rowan. He was lying face down on a cot, and his back was full of bleeding, open wounds caused by the whip she had heard earlier. He was groaning in pain, even though he appeared to be sleeping.
The guard took her down to the last cell at the end of the long hall. Kaela spun around. No other guards were in view.
She wanted to try something. She had theorized something about her Phantom Blade class. It was based on a question that had occurred to her long ago.
Why should she be the only one who could enter the aether realm? She always rushed through it while in combat, but there was one day she tested something while waiting for her resources to replenish in one of the Crucible’s safe rooms.
She used Phantom Step to enter the gray space. But instead of simply returning to reality, she wanted to see how long she could stay there.
Surrounded by the gray, slow-moving view of the safe room, she simply sat in place and waited.
It only took five minutes, and the shrieks she heard made her hair stand on end.
They were similar to banshees from old world lore on Earth. Apparitions with gaunt faces, cloaked in ragged veils of gray vapor and shrouded in billowing shadow, they floated just above the ground.
Once they sensed that someone was spending too much time in their space, they saw her and began rushing toward her from every direction.
Kaela counted fifteen, but could hear many, many more coming behind them.
She waited until they were nearly upon her, then popped back to reality.
Over time, she practiced waiting as long as she could. The one time she tried to fight them directly, she learned that only her Phantom Blade could injure the banshees.
But the thick, black blood they spewed burned through her armor and skin. And when she returned to reality, she had to spend an extra week waiting for both to heal.
Her theory was that she could grab onto someone, pull them into that realm, and leave them there. She tried it with a beast on one of the early floors, but she couldn’t get it to follow her through the membrane into the aether.
Kaela waited until the guard removed a set of keys from his pocket. She snatched them from his hand and tossed them to the floor.
Then, before he could even say a word, she grabbed his head in both hands.
He squirmed, trying to get free. He began yelling, but her Strength was far higher than his, and she held him firm.
She closed her eyes and focused on Phantom Step. She could feel her body entering the aether, but it refused to close around her because of the other man.
She concentrated on expanding the gray bubble to encompass him. It didn’t work.
She tried pulling him closer, but nothing was working.
Finally, he slammed his head forward, trying to headbutt her. But when his forehead touched hers, some sort of connection was made, and the guard was pulled into the aether realm with her.
She punched him in the sternum, and as he struggled to breathe, Kaela took a large step backward and ended the skill.
She returned to the hallway. The guard’s keys were on the floor, prisoners screamed down the hallway, but the guard was nowhere to be seen.
Kaela smiled.
“Holy shit, I can’t believe it worked.”
She picked up the set of keys and waited ten minutes. Then she walked several feet away from the initial spot and activated Phantom Step again.
Dozens of banshees were hovering above the guard’s body.
One of them turned to Kaela, and she prepared to exit to save herself. But the banshee pointed a finger at her. Kaela froze in place. From deep within the creature’s hood, red eyes glowed brighter than anything else in the dull, gray zone.
It spoke in a hoarse whisper that she felt more than heard.
“We accept your tribute. Bring us more of your enemies, and you may pass unmolested through our realm.”
Kaela simply nodded. Just as she was leaving the aether, she caught a glimpse of the guard.
His head and body were shriveled, as if the specters were draining the very life essence from him and… feeding on it?
Kaela shuddered and ended her skill.
She forgot all about the prisoners and the yelling and the torture, and slumped down against the cold stone wall, just staring at her hands. Some things were just better off left unseen.