-Callia-

  I slowly let myself walk towards my new goal. A weariness from pushing myself to the limit began to fade bit by bit while I took my chance to listen in on the homes around me. The light of the central tower was reaching the local equivalent of sunset on a day that had been cut around three hours short. Some seemed blissfully unaware, heading home early from work in better condition than usual, but it’s not hard to imagine how things were on the far side, where the sudden early arrival of the light cut their night's rest three hours short. Like some kind of super daylight savings, but nobody was forewarned. While I walked, I reached out to Callen, finding him in a similarly exhausted state.

  “Are things on your end ok?” I softly pulled his attention. We had some time to chat before I dumped an urgent request for new weapons on him. I felt him reach back, bringing a relieved sense of comfort at the nonurgent starter.

  “Things were a bit weird for a minute here. Crescent’s mom dropped in to help with a serious issue at just the right time, but that created a whole new issue to address.” I paused a bit at that nugget of information. I knew she was an orphan around a year younger and the secret granddaughter of the mayor, but I guess the family drama was even deeper than expected. More than that, I guess my brother had returned to Port Town?

  “Well, good luck with the prospective in-law?" Callen and Crescent were technically a couple even if the relationship itself was still young. I enjoyed the flustered feelings popping up on his end before moving on to a different topic that he might find more manageable. “How are the lady and baby I sent to you?”

  “Stable but unconscious. The mother is in the hospital, and the baby has been sent to the orphanage to take care of him until the mother wakes up.” I trusted Callen to handle them, but hearing both were well helped take an edge off my guilt from incidentally putting them in danger. The mother’s intervention may very well have turned the entire fight on its head. Regardless, I owed her quite a bit for all the trouble.

  “Make sure they are looked after.” I pause, finding my chance to bring up the main reason I reached out to Callen. “On another note, I’m going to need a new bow, dagger, and Void Gate. Since you’re back home, mind whipping up something serviceable? I left my gear behind after a hostage situation.” I can feel the weary sigh echoing across our bond. My chagrin seeps back as I accept the unfortunate loss of the nicest present I ever got. I notice a bit of a chill, and suddenly my state of dress jumps to mind. The only thing left on was a skin-tight bodysuit that I used as my under armor wear. I snatched my spare clothing from the void, putting it on immediately while I scanned around me, glaring at anyone who might’ve seen. Luckily the streets were empty as most people had returned home before the ‘sun’ set.

  "Yeah, I’ll figure something out. On a different note, Lexia is leading an army of young adults towards Port Town. They don’t seem to be invading, but I really can’t tell what they intend or why they are here.” I grimace in concern. While my first instinct is to drop everything here and run back to kick her ass, the seriousness of matters here wasn’t something that I could just forget and move on from. While Callen’s Void Gates were extremely convenient, they were still frustratingly limited in the fact that we had to be at the location we linked to, so I can’t just hop home and then come back here without Callen coming here to open the way back first. Therefore, I restrained myself from just insisting on returning immediately.

  “How are the odds looking for a fight?” That was, after all, the biggest question. If the incoming army was a threat, I would return regardless of the local consequences. The whole rebellion wasn’t something that hinged on me, and while the idea of abandoning my new friends here wasn’t something I was keen on, I also had no intention of abandoning my family.

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  “I’ve got a team of knights that Karia put under my command here with me. The odds could be described as overwhelmingly in our favor, with Lexia holding a slight advantage in numbers.” He paused and then amended his statement. “A slight advantage in guard-level men; if we draft the civilians, the numbers also swing for us.” I let out a soft sigh of relief. It seemed the situation should be well in hand there. I make sure to share my relief with Callen as we both settle into a comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Eventually he had to withdraw to handle matters on his side but made sure to promise to get me something functional before the night ended.

  By the time the conversation ended, I was finally feeling ready to push some more. I started picking up a bit of speed moving towards the edge of the city. I reached the dividing wall and easily ascended up, taking perch at the top. Casually I scanned the wall to see if there was anyone nearby but wasn’t particularly surprised to see nobody. This wall was more of a city boundary marker and something to keep civilians out of the fields than an actual fortification. Similarly, the gatehouses leading through are more like checkpoints than actual defensive structures.

  Just ahead were the scorched fields, my first obstacle in infiltrating the central tower. Crossing wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t want anyone noticing, and all the enemies' spotters would likely be on alert after all the chaos of today. Scanned through the goods stored in the void, pausing at the camouflage cloak. I hopped slightly forward, letting the soles of my boots slide along the wall as I fell down. At the last moment I gave a small push off and a roll to break the fall. I draped the cloak over my shoulders, bracing myself for an extended journey crawling through ash when the sound of metal straining nearby caught my attention.

  I moved forward, bringing myself to a stop at a small restroom that was scorched by fire. The building itself stood undamaged, but its walls were blackened from the fire earlier. Carefully I cracked the door open and confirmed it was empty. The sounds of what seemed to be chains restraining something below were far more apparent this close. My gaze swept through the stalls before locking on the corner of the floor in a stall labelled ‘out of order.’ A small latch almost perfectly disguised to appear like a bit of gravel from the fields was hidden in the corner. I gave it a small nudge, and I felt a small rocking as the floor I was standing on rolled slightly. Immediately I noticed the faint wobbling of a wheeled track under the floor, so I gently pushed off the wall and floor. The toilet and stall floor rolled neatly backwards, sliding underneath the entrance floor. It revealed a stone tunnel with stairs leading in a spiral downward.

  Whoever designed this clearly understood the value in mundane strategies for hiding. Hiding a trap with an invisible energy that can be shaped to resist detection is usually enough for most people to be satisfied with their secret passages, but the best secret mechanisms don’t use shortcuts to functionality like mana. At least that was the professional opinion of Nixie, but then again, we spent most of our time making traps for Callen, whose specialty in sensing mana outstripped his other senses. As I slowly moved down the stairs, the first thing that came to mind was this place could be a secret bar that the farmers made. The perfect place to slack off without getting caught.

  At the bottom I reached a black wood door inscribed with a red circle and five-pointed star. Immediately I sighed, accepting that my secret bar idea was unfortunately not correct. I carefully sensed any presence or mana in the room and came up with only an individual a short distance into the room. No mana or traps as far as I could tell, and no evil presence active, but the faint taint of the normal repulsive aura lingered like a stale odor in the air. I kicked the handle of the door and burst into the room. The man in a black cloak flopped away in panic, but he was far too slow. I swiped with the butt of the spear, shattering both of the man's shins, and took a chance to evaluate the room. There was a shelf covered in rotting ingredients, a poorly drawn circle with chains restraining one of the citadel's platforms, and the cultist without his face obscured by the hood, who looked like a very alarmed farmer. I looked at the man who was squirming in pain, clutching his broken shins, and then back at the floating platform.

  “Did you abduct a platform. . .” The man looked up at me with tears in his eyes, nodding. I noticed a small mark in the center of the platform, like something had been scratching it. “Did you try to ritualistically sacrifice a platform?” The incredulity in my voice rose as the man continued to tremble.

  “I WAS JEALOUS.” I blinked at his outburst, looking at him and then the platform.

  “Of the platform?”

  Proverbs 8:10 KJV - "Receive my instruction, and not silver; And knowledge rather than choice gold".