“How are you feeling, Amon?”

  “Much better now. Thanks for bringing me to the church.”

  The knight, August, is the drill instructor. He is the only knight who checks up on me regularly. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but you should know.”

  “What should I know?”

  August looked around first. “It’s about your brother. I was there when your father gave him the same lesson he gave you.”

  “If you call that a lesson.”

  “Trenton said the same thing, you know. I admit your injuries were more severe than his. I felt like my heart stopped when you weren’t able to dodge that knee to the chest.”

  “Well, it certainly hurt.”

  “You’re one tough kid, you know that.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Your brother was crying from the pain, but not you though. You almost seemed detached from what was happening."

  My bad, I should have cried. Well, what’s done is done. Still, Trenton got the same treatment. So, when Father said he dodged the knee strike, he meant Trenton avoided it back when he got the same treatment. “What happened after Trenton avoided the knee?”

  “I could tell your father was proud. But Trenton never had time to revel in it. The only way your brother avoided the knee was by falling backward. His arm was broken when the sword was kicked away. He too was kicked, and that broke ribs when he collided with the wall. Sir Victor then insulted him much like he did yourself.”

  I see what my father was trying to do now. “Let me guess, that’s when my brother became obsessed with his training?”

  “Yeah, he really wanted to return the favor to your father.”

  That is what I figured. Father was making himself an enemy. Getting us to hate him, all to motivate us to train even more. “So, this is his way of more or less motivating me?”

  “Hahaha. You’re a smart boy. You figured that out way faster than your brother. He let us all know that morning it was time for your ‘awakening’, as he likes to call it. All the men prepared for it. Your father already put aside money with the church to pay for your healing.”

  “How much longer am I to stay cooped up here in this part of the church?” I should say cathedral, but that just sounds weird to say.

  “Duke Wellmont is leaving tomorrow afternoon. You are to stay here for one more night. Those are your mother’s orders. She only let your father do what he did if you got the best treatment available and spared no expense. I ran into the two of them as they argued about it.”

  “Oh, tell me more.”

  “Victor may be a terror on the field of battle, but your mother owns him. He tried to argue that this would strengthen you and prepare you for the real world. Your mother never raised her voice. I saw her lean forward and whisper something in his ear. You should have seen the look of fear on his face. Still, your mother gave him her conditions, and he nodded along meekly. Cindy even gave me orders to look after you. That is not a woman I would ever defy.”

  “So, you're only here because Mother ordered it?”

  August held his hands up and was shaking his head. “I would have come regardless, I promise.”

  “Thanks for checking on me then.” Now that I think back on it, when Mother wished me luck that morning, she looked worried, maybe even angry. I didn’t even notice any of that. I was too focused on that soul stone and how I was going to absorb its ability.

  “It is honestly no trouble on my part.”

  “If Mother was so worried about me, why hasn’t she shown up yet?”

  “Believe me, your mother would if she were able. With the departure back to Duke Wellmont’s domain, your mother is extremely busy. Though she is planning on picking you up in the morning. I will be with her.”

  “So just spend another night here and be a good little boy. Right?”

  August laughed. “Pretty much. Just endure one more night here. It’s not like it is terrible here. Lots of cute young ladies here.”

  “Not that I am interested in women. Also, I am pretty sure ladies of the church aren't allowed relationships.”

  “I suppose you wouldn’t be, for now.” August looked at me with curiosity. Why would they be prohibited from a relationship?”

  Oops, of course the church here would have different rules than the ones back on Earth. “I just heard that ladies serving in the church couldn't date or get married.”

  “Well, you heard wrong. For someone so smart, you are easily fooled. You need to be more careful about what others tell you. You shouldn’t always believe everything you're told.”

  I looked down. “I am sorry, you're right, of course.”

  August stood up and patted me on the shoulder. “Good. I need to head back now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Thanks again.”

  August waved and held his hand up as he left. Tonight is the night I am going to find that rod. I am pretty sure I have searched every nook and cranny. Maybe I should stalk the archbishop tonight. Yeah, that is as good a plan as any.

  A young man entering the room with a young lady in tow interrupted my thoughts. “How are you feeling today?”

  Ah, I think he is the head healer? “Much better, thank you for healing me.”

  “Of course. You have been a model patient. You bother nobody, and you don’t get handsy with the nurses.”

  Why do people talk like that to a young boy? Well, let’s continue to play my part. “Why would I get handsy with the nurses?” I gave the healer my best confused look.

  He laughed, and the girl next to him did as well. She pinched my cheek. “You are just so adorable.”

  “Let us know if we can do anything for you.” The man left.

  “It would be our pleasure.” The lady bowed and followed him.

  Finally, alone. I can’t complain, since I am getting the VIP treatment. I have my own room, three meals a day, and fruit to my heart’s content. If I want, one nurse will spend time with me too. I just have to wait until nightfall. Then I can begin stalking the archbishop.

  ***

  For a person with a black soul, I was expecting the archbishop to be a lazy slob. I was not expecting him to be attentive to paperwork. The paperwork is all boring too, yet he uses beautiful penmanship. I looked towards the window. Plus, it’s been hours after nightfall and he is still working. He has a great work ethic.

  I tap my chin and start pacing around the room while the archbishop works. Thank heavens for stealth. I hope this isn’t a bust. It would be very disappointing if the archbishop worked into the night, only to go home and go to bed. I looked around the room. Does the archbishop stay in the cathedral, or does he have his own home nearby? If he doesn’t stay here, perhaps the rod might be at his house.

  But if he stays in his own home, what is the big ornate room for that I explored last night? I can’t imagine anybody else worthy enough to sleep in it. The archbishop puts his pen away and stretches. He gets up from the desk and pushes his chair in. I make my way to the door and wait for him. He grabs the lantern on his desk and walks to a bookshelf behind it. He presses his fist into a decorative recess. His ring fits perfectly.

  There is a brief pause, then a quiet click. The archbishop grips the far end of the bookshelf and swings it out. Its movements are silent. I hurry over and look at the decoration as the secret passage opens. Never would've guessed those recesses, which are at the back of each shelf, held a secret. Definitely large enough to fit a signet ring in. It's true that the best hiding place is in plain sight.

  I have no more time to examine the bookshelf, so I squeeze myself under the bishop's arms as he grips a handle on the back of the shelf to close it. I move to the right side of the passage and decide it's best to follow him down. The bookshelf closes without a sound, and the archbishop holds his ring up to a blank spot on the bookshelf. After a soft click, he turns around and heads down the stairs.

  When we arrive at a dead end, the archbishop once again puts his ring against a blank spot on the wall. There is a click. He pushes the door open. On the other side is a large chamber lined with weapons. I turn and watch as the archbishop closes the door, or perhaps better to call it a weapon rack attached to the door.

  As the archbishop heads off in one direction, I have a internal debate. Do I follow him or not? On the one hand, he could lead me to some important findings. But what are the chances that a secret location has more secret hiding places built into it? I can’t imagine most people know about this location, so why would you install more secrets? I make my decision by heading down the opposite hallway from the archbishop.

  Magic stones light up the hallway, bathing everything in a greenish light. I peek into each of the rooms on the right side as I travel further. Most rooms seem to be empty; a few have targets with arrows sticking out of them. These must all be different training rooms.

  I hear sounds coming from the second to last room on the right. When I open the door, I can see two people engaging in combat. I close the door behind me and observe the two of them. They are both men. One is older, but not by much. They wield wooden swords. Unlike knight training, these two use magic while they fight. One of them gets thrown across the room. The older guy still standing walks over and helps the other person up.

  I take a quick peek at their souls, and smile as I see they are black. Next, I switch from seeing the color of their soul to seeing if they have any abilities. The older gentleman had a full collection of abilities, but the younger person had none. I reveal myself to the two of them.

  “Do any of you know how to absorb soul stones?”

  This startled the older man. “Who are you? How did you get down here?”

  “I asked my question first.”

  “That’s not how this works.” The younger man grinned as he started walking towards me. “I could use some fun. I love beating kids.”

  The older man put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Wait, we need answers first.” He looked back at me. “You alone, kid?”

  “An answer for an answer.”

  “We don’t need to answer your questions.”

  The older man shrugged. “I don’t see any harm in your question, odd, but yeah, we both know how to absorb soul stones.”

  “Thanks for that, would you—” I pointed to the younger man. “—be willing to absorb this soul stone.” I produced my inventory soul stone from its hiding place. “I would've asked the older gentleman, but he doesn’t have room for any more abilities.”

  The older gentleman had a startled expression. “How could you know that? Who the hell are you?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I have had enough of your attitude.” The younger man shrugged off the hand holding him back. “I will gladly absorb that stone of yours after I beat you to death.”

  “Wait, something is wrong with this kid.”

  “You're worrying about nothing, boss.” The younger man turned to smile back at his boss, but froze.

  I had my finger pointed at the older man, and shot his head clean off with a laser made from mana. “Thanks for your cooperation.”

  The younger man backed away from me. “How did you do that? Who are you?”

  “So, you're willing to absorb this soul stone now? If you need further encouragement, I would be happy to blow your legs off, then your arms. We can decide what next after that.”

  The man collapsed and started scooting away from me. “Why would you want me to absorb a soul stone? What do you possibly get out of it?”

  “Entertainment.” I looked at the guy as if he were dumb. Remember, you've got to sell it, that I am the oddball here. “I enjoy asking people to do weird things to get their reactions. I must say I really like yours.”

  “You killed someone for entertainment?”

  “Yeah, don’t you lie to me and say you’ve never done the same.”

  The man said nothing for a while. When he finally reached the back wall and couldn’t scoot further away, he panicked. “Do you promise to let me go if I absorb your soul stone?”

  I once again looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Why would I go to all this trouble to watch you absorb a soul stone, only to kill you right afterward?” I pointed to my head. “You need to use your head a little more.”

  The man seemed to relax a little. He held out his hand. “Then hand me the stone, and I will do what you want.”

  I grinned while tossing him the stone. He wasted no time absorbing it. That’s good. I was worried he might try to slam it into the ground and break it. But it seems he is too frightened to try something like that now. When the ability was fully absorbed and locked into his soul, I held out my right arm and started twisting it counterclockwise. “I will admit, the look on your face as you stare in confusion at my arm is priceless.” I give a little bow to the man who is helping me.

  I spend a little time observing the new ability. Inventory seems to take up four soul connections. I do not know how much room it grants a person, at least not tell I absorb it myself. There isn’t much more I can glean off the guy, so it was time to move on to extraction. This is a much more reliable method of getting new abilities. Soul stones might only drop anywhere from one in ten to one in a hundred times after you successfully kill a monster. Extracting an ability is much more difficult, but was guaranteed to take it.

  I poked my left index finger at the man’s forehead and closed my eyes. I carefully weave my spell to disconnect his newly acquired ability from the guy’s soul. When the last connection was severed, I quickly grabbed it and pulled it into my left hand. I then touched my forehead with the same finger and let the Soul Forge manage the installation process.

  I twist my arm clockwise and point my finger at the man. “Thank you very…” You died. What the hell, man. I know severing abilities can cause death; however, you weren't even hurt. I let out a sigh and looked around the room once more. Taking in all the blood and other body bits, I snapped my fingers to turn the human gore to ash.

  I left the room and searched all the others, but they were just more empty training places. I went back to the large hall where the archbishop emerged and went down the other hallway after him. There were rooms filled with people, several of whom were sleeping. This must be a barracks?

  I was careful to avoid people, and I didn’t bother searching for any of those rooms. There were bathrooms, washrooms, dining halls, and a rather large kitchen. Everyone I saw had black souls. As cool as it would be to eliminate them, I get a bigger thrill from trying to evade them, at least for now.

  I wonder where the archbishop went; maybe I should have followed him. It's also possible that he left. In my exploration of what I am going to call the living quarters of this underground facility, I discovered a door with dried blood on it. The door remained locked when I attempted to open it. I don’t get the point of locking anything, since all I have to do is this—the lock made a clicking sound as my spell finished—and every door becomes easy to open.

  I close the door behind me. This is one of those doors that lock and unlock on both sides, so I'll just leave it. The place I entered looked like a prison. As I walked by the cells, I noticed they were all empty. There is another door at the far end, and it's also got dried blood on it, more so than the first.

  The door is just as easy to unlock as the first, and I make my way through another part of the prison. Unlike the earlier section, which used see-through bars for walls, this section has private rooms that are all heavily fortified. I see slit holes allowing one to peek inside each room, and I look through all of them as I make my way to the end.

  The third door from the entrance has two people inside; I turned away to check the other rooms first. With each room explored, I went back to the room with the two people. Looking through the slit, I peeked at their souls. One man is standing up, and he has an extremely black soul. Now you may wonder, how can one soul be blacker than another? Likely this guy has done some extra terrible shit.

  The other person is lying down, and their soul is white. The only people with white souls are—I turn my spell off to confirm my suspicions—little children. This looks… I am completely speechless. That doesn’t last for long though. Red, fiery anger courses through my veins. I lose control, deactivating stealth and hold out my right hand. My mana grips the door, and I rip it and parts of the frame right off. I chucked them down the hall to crash into the entrance, demolishing it.

  The sound is deafening. The man turns to face me. It’s clear he doesn’t know how to act, lost for words. He is staring at me, and at the missing door and frame. He swallows, which makes an audible sound. “What are you?”

  “You like to torture children?” I gestured to the little girl, who was probably younger than me.

  “Um… did you want… want to join in?”

  My anger reaches the next level. “I have a present for you, which I hope you enjoy.” I grip him as I did the door. With my right hand making a grabbing motion towards him, I yank him away from the room and hold him aloft within the power of my spell.

  “What are you doing? Stop this, please.”

  His pleas fell on deaf ears. I don’t bother using my arm to mess with time; this isn’t the place for theatrics. I, however, accelerate time for him. Under normal circumstances, this would be a dumb move, but I wanted him to suffer. My mana drains rapidly because of the time difference. Though, not that I have been worried about my mana levels for years now.

  I bring my left hand and hold it in a cupping gesture just above my right hand, which I change to mirror the left. With time distorted, I can see the man flailing. It looks freaky with him moving abnormally fast. He is screaming for help, or I assume for help, as the time distortion bundles his words into an awful mess. I move both my hands together and watch as his body crushes itself.

  The horrifying sounds coming from his mouth stopped as he became nothing more than a ball of human goo held aloft by my mana. I remove the time distortion and incinerate the remains. Normally I like to just turn everything straight to ash, but I felt like this man needed fire for cleansing. When his remains turned to ash, I dropped them in a bucket, which I assume was a poop bucket.

  I walk up to the girl; she is still breathing, and she looks terrified of me. In fairness, she did just witness me slaughtering someone. I would describe what I see, but I can’t. Words simply can’t describe something this vile. I use my mana to heal her injuries, which are everywhere. I also remove the cruel pieces of metal that have been forced into places, from her eyes to her feet.

  I slow time down as I hear voices towards me, because this girl needs an astronomical amount of healing. The healing needed to heal me from my spar with my father is nothing compared to what she needs. I don’t even know how she was still alive. It took me a full hour of dedicated healing to bring her body back to normal. That was only possible with my advanced knowledge. It took the healers two whole days to heal me, with my last treatment being this morning.

  With her healed and restraints removed, I picked her up. I had already put her to sleep, and I strengthened my muscles with mana to make it easier to carry her. I wrapped her arms around my neck, with her head resting on my right shoulder. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I carried her with my right arm. With her secured, I left. I planned to kill everyone on the way out. Since I had already confirmed them to have black souls, there was no problem. I considered them accessories to the torture of this young girl.

  Using time shenanigans felt too unsatisfying here, so I deactivated it. When I entered the first part of the prison, there were ten people awaiting me. They charged at me right away. I used my left hand to make a gripping motion, and my mana gripped them all. I squeezed the hand into a fist, and their bodies became goo. They turned to ash as I threw them against the prison bars.

  When I emerged from the prison, there were even more people waiting for me. Some of them were still trying to get dressed as they ran towards me. I gripped them, crushed them, and turned them to ash, like the earlier group. I went room by room, killing everyone I found. When the secret facility was bathed in silence, I sent out my mana to use it like radar. I didn’t enjoy doing this as others would feel it, thus giving up my position.

  There was nobody left alive within the barracks itself. However, I felt one presence behind a wall. That must be the archbishop, and I suppose there were more secret places down here. He was alone. I don’t know why he never heard the commotion from outside. I can only guess that his room is more soundproof. He felt my mana, and I could tell he stopped whatever he was doing and was coming after me.

  I normally would have done to him what I did to the others, but I wanted to do something extra special. I headed towards the secret passage back to his office. He was following me; I kept up my mana radar so he could do just that. I ripped the door away and also turned the bungled mess into ash. Satisfied, I walked up the steps. I could tell he was checking all the rooms, likely to alert everyone to my presence.

  He obviously did not know what was happening, nor why everyone was gone. After a brief moment, he quit trying to find others and ran after me. He paused at the missing door but didn’t stay long. I wanted to rip the bookshelf door away, but didn’t want sounds to travel through the cathedral. I put my left hand on the spot where I saw the archbishop locking the door and used a spell to first examine the mechanism.

  The ring the archbishop uses must be enchanted, as this locking mechanism requires some signal to activate. I find the lock itself and use my mana to force it to unlock in a brute-force method. I push the door open and leave it as I make my way out of the office and head towards the side door that leads outside the cathedral. The side door was locked, but after a moment and a soft click, it opened.

  The archbishop should be able to see me now, though he seems totally unaware that he is walking into my trap. If he had done almost anything else, I would have forcefully dragged him behind me. That simply wouldn’t have been as satisfying as baiting him like this. As I walk out into the street, I can feel him preparing some spell for me.

  I turned to face him and used my left hand and make a grabbing motion. His spell fizzles out as I pull him towards me and thrust him onto the ground in front of me. His face was pale in the moonlight's reflection. “What do you want? Who are you?”

  “Why did you follow me?”

  “I felt an intruder in our lair, and I… I… I wanted to see who it was.”

  “Did you know about the torture of this little girl?” I made sure he could see her.

  “What, that is news—” I gripped his throat with my mana and squeezed. He struggled and was gasping.

  “Let’s try again. Did you know about the torture?” I released the spell.

  “Yes,” the archbishop was gulping air.

  “Why?” I closed my eyes.

  “What will you do to me if I tell you?”

  “I think the better question is what I will do to you if you don’t tell me?”

  I could hear water, and when I looked closely, I could see the archbishop had soiled himself. “I… Well… You see…” He took another deep breath. “You see, our torturer is one of the best information gatherers in the kingdom. We accommodate him, you see… well, he likes to torture children. I care little for it, but we need to keep him entertained for when we really do need—”

  I heard enough. I squeezed his throat again, but backed off and asked, “Do you know where you got this girl? Where are her parents?”

  “I don’t know. Daryl was in charge of acquiring subjects.”

  “So, you have no further use to me.”

  “Hold it. Hold it. Please… I know we make purchases from the slavers. They likely sold us the girl. Her parents likely sold her into slavery or are dead already. It's illegal to force a citizen into slavery.”

  “You expect me to believe that slavers would obey the law? Don’t make me laugh.”

  “Please wait—”

  I squeezed until his head came off. I used mana to etch words into the stone. ‘This monster is guilty of murder and has committed crimes against humanity. Let all know that you reap what you sow. This man has reaped his just rewards.’ Crap, I should have also asked where the rod is kept.

  I grabbed his ring, as that might come in handy later. I didn’t bother searching his body for anything else, deciding instead to turn around and walk back into the cathedral, using a spell to lock the door behind me. My destination, the VIP room I was supposed to stay in for one more night. I put the girl in my bed and pulled the blanket over her so she would stay warm. I then paced to contemplate my next move.

  First, I need to go unbury that exquisite stone chest in the backyard of Duke Wellmont’s mansion. With my inventory ability, I shouldn’t have any difficulty storing that now. My original plan was to leave it buried and get it later. Second, I need to determine what to do with this girl. I was hoping she would have family that she could go back to, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea now. I am kind of responsible for her now, not that I want to be, but what man would abandon her after what I saw down there.

  Which means she has to come back with me. I am going to need clothes for her. There are tailors here; I’ll just steal something that looks like it might fit her. Well, kind of steal, I do plan to leave gold coins on the counter after I take what I need. She will need shoes too, but I doubt there are ready-made pairs that fit her.

  As for how I am going to get you home, well… that may be the straightforward part, it's just taxing on the mana. Just need to throw stealth on her and keep you asleep. I am riding my own horse now, so that means I should be able to hold you in front of me as I ride back home. I just hope she is okay with all of this. If she isn’t, I suppose I can accommodate some selfishness on her part; after her nightmare, she kind of deserves it. Better get going, I’ve got a busy night ahead of me.

  ***

  “What is happening outside, Mother?”

  “You just hold my hand and don’t look.” My mother nodded to the knight, August.

  “Don’t mind me, Amon.” August covered my eyes as we walked out the side door.

  There were sounds of feet moving everywhere. I had to hold the girl high above my head, since I didn’t want her accidentally bumping into anyone. When we were several minutes past the cathedral, August removed his hands from my eyes. I took that opportunity to bring the girl back down and keep moving her so she didn’t bump anyone.

  My mother was nervous. “Somebody very important was murdered last night. They were pretty brutal about it.”

  “Who died, Mother?”

  “Archbishop Preston.”

  Oh, so that is his name. “Why?”

  “Nobody knows why. The Templars are all over the scene. They even shut down the main roads around the cathedral.”

  “Why did they let us leave?”

  “Duke Wellmont had to speak to them.”

  “Why would he speak to them on my behalf?”

  My mother looked back at me and smiled. “I convinced your father to ask for his help, since this is all his fault to begin with. I can be quite persuasive when the need arises.”

  “Wow, you’re so amazing, Mother.”

  She squeezed my hand. “Now that we are back at the estate, please hurry and get packed. You know what to do.”

  I bowed to August and took off into the house. The girl was easier to move behind me as I made my way to my room. Looks like I've got a few long and taxing days ahead of me. I wish I could just put you into—the girl vanished—storage… I quickly pulled her back out. She gasped for air. She didn’t wake, though. Got to be more careful. Though it is good to know that the inventory ability can fit other people.