Four level three guards occupied the dry space underneath the archway.They were chatting and yawning when I flew out of the fog like a flash of lightning and swept my sword through their necks. Moments later Celina burst out of the mist with her dagger drawn only to find the archway decorated with freshly severed heads.

  +20 XP

  +10 Karma

  She slowed her stride as the others trailed in behind her. They glanced down at the corpses, puzzled as they awkwardly sheathed their weapons.

  "How much further is this tower?" I asked.

  "There are two more guard posts before the tower," Celina said, furrowing her brow. "Are you using magic to enhance your speed? I can't detect your mana signature."

  I strode past the bodies, forcing the bandits into a heated jog to keep up with me. Of course, I could've covered more ground in a fraction of the time without them. But learning of a supposedly secret route to the Cellar had elevated their usefulness. Without knowing the tower's layout, the number of enemy forces, and their overall strength, accepting temporary assistance sounded better by the second.

  Cleveland's spiel about Black Diamond being made-up of a few small bandit groups lost credence with each step across this forsakenly long bridge. Obviously, he had undersold Black Diamond's resources in the hopes of luring me into their domain to save himself.

  "I only asked because the bastard that runs this place is skilled in the art of counter-magic. If you truly intend on raiding the tower, your spells will be useless."

  "Worry about yourselves," I said as a harsh breeze sliced across the bridge.

  Despite the abundant mentions of mana, I still wasn't sure what the hell everybody was talking about. Of course, I understood it was a resource used to cast spells, yet I was lost as to how one conjured it in the first place. My severe lack of worldly knowledge was once again revealing itself as a massive problem that needed to be addressed. I had done my best gathering context clues, and picking up on bits and pieces of relevant information which all added up to not a hell of a lot.

  As we covered ground a subtle light appeared forty stories high in the distant horizon. It gleamed through the overwhelming mist even before we saw the next archway. I stared up in equal parts awe and frustration, assuming that was indeed the tower's peak.

  Time Remaining: 21:00:16

  If the quest activated at midnight, then I only had a few hours before dawn broke. That left zero room for error and the lingering worry of failing the quest at the forefront of my mind. If Chaos got what he wanted, and I failed the quest... What would happen to me?

  I compartmentalized the stress, locking it away in the back of my mind as I turned my focus to the task at hand.

  We were quickly approaching the next guarded archway and the trio of bandits were nearly out of breath from trying to keep up. I glanced over my shoulder and said, "There's another four guards. I'll handle them."

  Celina tried objecting, but it was too late. I zipped away at max speed, heading into the light. Thankfully, Karma's Gaze had already informed me of their lackluster levels and karma ratings. I reached the lever on the right side of the archway, targeting the guard closest to the contraption.

  I jammed the blade into his sternum, twisted, and extracted it before dealing with the others who were still reaching for their weapons.

  Slash.

  Chop.

  Stab.

  Four dead bodies lay at my feet as I gazed up and onward, eyeing the light atop the tower glowing even brighter as it cast a soft yet commanding radiance, delicately tracing the contours of the behemoth structure, revealing its true scope against the night sky.

  +20 XP

  +10 Karma

  "You have to stop doing that," Celina said as she rushed out of the mist with the others behind her. "If they hit the lever, it's all over."

  I ignored her complaint. As long as there were only level threes and fours on guard duty, I could slay an indefinite number of them without breaking much of a sweat.

  "I won't let that happen," I said.

  My assurance didn't carry much water. They weren't aware that I was also after someone who had been imprisoned in the Cellar. From their perspective, I was just a madman on a suicide mission, hellbent on settling a grudge. Someone like that couldn't be trusted.

  When I had first revealed my name, I kind of expected a double cross. I had even purposely put my back to them, multiple times, giving them ample opportunity to make a move. As of now, it truly seemed their only concern was saving their leader. Or they just knew better.

  Celina exchanged worried glances with Gustall and Brythan as they followed me along the bridge. I noticed them drawing labored breaths and I incrementally increased my speed, testing their endurance out of sheer curiosity.

  The woman was by far the quickest of the bandits, while Gustall turned pale and Brythan lingered on the verge of puking. Finally, I relented as the tower's gargantuan silhouette sharpened. More lights dotted the sky, cutting through the fog, revealing more details of the distant stone structure.

  We were only a quick sprint away from the final archway when Celina snapped her fingers. I turned and she pointed over the side of the bridge.

  "It's over here," she said.

  "Huh?"

  "This place was constructed under the old moons many generations ago."

  Old moons?

  "When Aclana was a newly established country, King Azbul erected this fortress under the assumption that the Crystal Lakes ran into the Anderhorn Canal. This was supposed to be a port, but the project was abandoned when they discovered the route was impassable." Celina squinted hard. "I can't remember if it was the Fifth or Sixth Great War that took precedence over digging out the passage. Either way, they ceased construction immediately, leaving only the tower finished."

  "You seem well read for a bandit," I admitted.

  "My older brother used to collect history tomes," she said as she scaled the weathered stone ledge and peered over the side. "There should still be scaffolding over the side, down here."

  "You read that in a book?" Brythan asked with worry etched across his brow. "What if they took it down a century ago?"

  Celina peered into the billowy fog, which diffused the myriad of lights gleaming up from beneath the lake's surface. "I overheard a group of mercs talking about it at Moldy's."

  "That shit house of a tavern's still open?" Gustall asked. "What were you doing there? Even the cockroaches stopped frequenting the place."

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  "One night I was there for some business. Arthwin and his unit were sitting a few tables behind us, discussing how two new recruits fell to their deaths after being tasked with the scaffolding's removal," Celina said as she flicked a pebble over the side and watched it disappear into the pooling mist.

  Arthwin?

  Hearing his name re-ignited my yearning for his demise. With some luck, maybe I'd find the one-handed asshole nursing himself back to health in the tower. I couldn't wait to watch the life drain from his eyes.

  "You said you had reliable information, not drunken hearsay," Brythan moaned and glanced over the steep drop off over the ledge. "I can't see a damn thing. They probably finished taking it down."

  Gustall noticed my grim expression and asked, "Having second thoughts?"

  "No, I just remembered something that needs to be done."

  Celina sat on the ledge and swung her legs over the side before she reached into a bag and retrieved a pair of leather gloves with lattice grips that ran across the fingertips. She slid them on and lowered herself over the edge, gingerly climbing down once she was confident in her grip.

  I never cared for heights. Flying on a plane was one thing, but scaling down a wet slab of stone into a foggy abyss stood at the top of the pyramid of 'shit I'd never do for a million dollars.'

  "You see anything?" Gustall called after her.

  "I don't like this one bit," Brythan whispered.

  "Found it," Celina said, her voice echoing up through the fog.

  I gulped, watching as Brythan and Gustall put on their own climbing gloves and disappeared over the ledge.

  "Damn it," I grumbled as I hopped up onto the ledge and stared into the menacing layers of endless mist, tracing their floating name tags thanks to Karma's Gaze.

  It felt like I was standing on the edge of the world, staring into a void. I took a moment and adjusted my belt, removing both short swords along with their sheaths. I set them aside, drew in an anxious breath, and peeled off my bloodied leather gloves, stuffing them into my pockets.

  The stone was cool to the touch and dangerously slick as I carefully lowered myself over the side, finding a lack of trustworthy footholds until I settled on a crevice between two cracked stone blocks. I saw Brythan and Gustall's names floating a dozen feet beneath me.

  My stomach sank as I loosened my grip on the ledge and inched down, one foot after the other. It was far too slow to be considered a rhythm. No, it was a methodical sequence of cautious movements, where one mistake led to a free fall with just enough time to contemplate what went wrong before you hit the water, which, at this height, may as well have been concrete.

  With my nose pressed against the cool stone, I shifted my weight, reaching for another foothold with my right foot until my fingers slipped and I fell backward. My body slid down the stone as I fondled wet rock with panicked hands.

  Shadow Weave.

  I yanked a shadow thread from the stone and grabbed a hold of it like a rope. The abrupt shift in momentum slammed me into the wall, leaving me dangling with the shadow tethered around my left hand. I blew out a sigh of relief, turned myself around, and rappelled down.

  As the scaffolding appeared below, I secured my grip and released Shadow Weave. My feet touched down on a creaky wooden board, the first in a series of aged wood that ran along the side of the bridge toward the tower. But standing on a solid surface, hardly alleviated my concerns.

  I kept my palm on the stone as I stepped across a creaky board, not trusting it to hold our weight. This entire place was a giant OSHA violation. There were no handrails or guards, just a couple of boards suspended in the air by god knows what.

  I took my time catching up to the bandits, who made their way toward the base of the tower. Soft light shone overhead as we passed by the last archway, listening to the guard's muffled voices. I waded through the fog, keeping my eyes on the bandit's name tags, refusing to look down.

  Eventually, they stopped up ahead and I joined them, spotting the hold-up. A lengthy gap stood between us on the plank walkway.

  "I guess this is where those poor bastards fell," Brythan said. "Let's head back."

  "Hold on to this," Celina said as she handed Gustall one end of a rope.

  "Even if you can make it across..." Gustall trailed off, disappointment setting in.

  Past the gap, only a single strip of boards lay in wait. Clearly the mercenaries had removed several segments of the scaffolding, along with its supports. The rest of the walkway looked uneven and shook in the wind.

  Celina tied the rope around her waist, herding everyone back to give her room for a running start.

  "Think this through," Gustall said, but Celina didn't listen.

  She shot forward, picking up speed until she reached the gap where she used her momentum to run across the wall, covering extra ground before she kicked off the stone, throwing herself at the skinny platform.

  Celina's fingers just barely found the edge of the board, much to Gustall's relief. She pulled herself up, along with the rope.

  "I don't like this," Gustall said. "If I don't make it, I'll only pull you down with me."

  Brythan shushed him, and pointed above, worried the guards might overhear them. Without so much as another word, Gustall leapt across the gap and landed with just his tiptoes on the platform's edge. He wobbled backward and Celina grabbed him, pulling him close. He wiped the sweat from his brow. On somewhat solid footing, he swung the rope over to Brythan.

  Cursing under his breath Brythan backed up, shaking his head as he took a running start. I could've sworn I saw tears in his eyes as he threw himself over the gap and fell a foot short of their platform.

  He stopped himself from screaming as he dangled wide-eyed beneath the platform before Celina and Gustall pulled him up with the rope. Once he was secure, Celina held the rope up, offering the same assistance, but I declined, waving them back with my hand.

  Once they were out of the way, I cleared the gap with ease.

  "Keep moving," I said.

  We continued our slow trek across the partially dismantled scaffolding, finding more treacherous gaps along the untrustworthy platform the further we went.

  Time Remaining: 20:31:09

  The timer taunted me, callously shedding seconds as I grew impatient abiding by the bandit's cautious approach. It became apparent that the mercenaries who had fallen to their death had actually done a bang-up job on removing the ancient scaffolding. A series of broken boards and metal beams—the skeletal remains of a once-sturdy path, stood between us and the tower. Splinters tumbled into the abyss below as Celina stalled on the edge of the platform, eyeing the remnants with measured skepticism.

  "One at a time," she said as she stashed the rope away in her satchel. "We're almost there."

  Brythan gnawed on those words while he examined the long jump required to reach the series of broken beams. "Why are we still pretending this is feasible?" he said. "Look, it's not too late. Let's do as he says and leave it to him. Right, Gus? Lina?"

  It was a fair enough out. Who could blame the poor bastard? Having Shadow Weave in my back pocket sapped most of my worries about falling, but for the rest of them it was one false move and, whoops, enjoy the 120 ft plunge.

  Rather than argue, Celina dashed forward and kicked off the scaffolding, throwing herself across the gap. She landed with her feet on the beam and steadied herself before she jumped over another gap to the next beam like she was simply playing a game of hopscotch.

  Brythan grabbed Gustall's shoulder before he gave chase. "Please, it's time to end this farce. You know once we go in there's no coming out. We'll be killed or imprisoned."

  "Sorry, you know I'm an optimist," Gustall said, shrugged him off, and made the jump.

  He touched down on the first beam with a surprising amount of grace, then leapfrogged from beam to beam after Celina.

  That left me alone with Brythan. I waited for him to either shit or get off the pot, but from the looks of it he was doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to avoid going after them. He glanced over his shoulder, making eye contact with me for a split second. I thought he was about to say something, but maybe he sensed my growing impatience, and lined himself up with the beam instead.

  "Nimble Feet," he whispered, then leapt across the gap, easily making it from beam to beam.

  Loyalty sure was a bitch. Celina was gambling everything for her brother, Gustall for unrequited love, and Brythan for family. Loyalty, love, friendship—it was all quite stupid. Yet, here I was, being a hypocrite as usual, running headfirst into danger on a whim.

  What was I really here for? Viessa? For Vicky? Or was it all just for more violence and power?

  Killing an entire flock of birds with one stone is never a bad thing, is it?

  Only if it's an endangered species.

  Once the voices in my head settled, I sprang into action. I hopped across the beams with precision until I eventually spotted the trio of bandits creeping along a narrow ledge with their backs pressed against the tower. None of them were thrilled to see me clear the final hurdle and join them on the treacherous strip of stone.

  Another 20 minutes bled away as the ledge twisted lower, spiraling along the outer wall of the impossibly vast spire. Then Celina found it, a break in the endless wall—a narrow arch carved into the stone. It lead to a doorway that was barely wide enough to squeeze through.

  Celina slid through first, followed by Gustall and Brythan. Wet stone dampened my cloak as I wedged in after them. The passage curved, then tightened until the wall opposite of me scraped the tip of my nose. Finally, I popped out of the other side into a pitch black room. And judging by how everyone was bumping into each other, the room was no bigger than a broom closet.

  "Lina, where exactly are we?" Brythan asked.

  "I think somewhere beneath the Cellar..."

  Brythan grabbed his face with both hands. "You think? You said you knew exactly how to get in and out."

  "I never said I knew the exact layout."

  "Found the doorway," Gustall said as he pressed against a slab of metal blocking it. "Well, now what? "Looks like they sealed their security flaw with a giant block of iron."

  The three of them gathered and pushed against the slab to no effect. Suddenly, twin orbs of molten gold appeared in the darkness. They hovered high above us in the corner of the room, encased in an ever-shifting amber glow, watching the trio of bandits before turning its gaze on me.

  But the moment my eyes locked onto the strange orbs, they blinked out of sight, almost as if the very act of seeing them had broken some unspoken rule.

  So much for the element of surprise.