There were a few other items of value; a golden snuff box, linen handkerchief, and a pouch of gold on the noble’s body. With a yawn I threw them into my inventory laden with common equipment and strange monster parts. Sighing, I looked around one last time and made my way to the exit.

  Unprompted, Lydia said, “Nine minutes and twenty three seconds.”

  Smirking, I looked up at the ceiling and sighed, “Thank you, Lydia.”

  Making my way out into the very misty work yard where we had entered the strange dungeon hours before I surveyed the endless sea of the Spiral hung above me. Should I go ahead and rush to the objective? Was any of it really possible without the other three to help me?

  As I stood there there was a tingling in the haptics in my suit and a silent notification dropped into the folder, “Alertness activated.” My newly leveled up Alertness skill was warning me that someone was hidden nearby but I couldn’t pinpoint their location.

  After a long moment I lowered a hand and dragged the tips of my bloody fingers through the mist around my knees and said, “Mystal?”

  “Oh boo! You’re no fun!," was what I heard a moment before she collided with my back and wrapped her powerful arms around my midsection.

  Turning I gave her a relieved smile and returned the hug muttering, "It's good to see you again kid."

  Mystal was no longer wearing the basic leather armor Valerie had given her in the border fortress. She was outfitted in dark leathers with black plates on the shoulders, chest and thighs and carrying a slender rapier on her waist. She had also somehow restyled her hair from Valerie’s typical long curly shoulder length style to a series of braids down the left side of her head and a curling midnight wave of curls on the right. There was also a prominent golden nose ring. When she pulled away the pain in her golden eyes brought my tense unease rushing back in. Her eyes were rimmed with tears and she looked haunted... afraid.

  Resting a gentle hand on her shoulder my brow furrowed as I asked, "What's wrong? Did you have to eat some people?"

  Her shoulders slumped as she sighed, "Yes, but," she looked at me with determination, "I'm pretty sure they were bad people. Bad like the ones that burned me."

  Chuckling I nodded, "Well, if you had to..."

  She gave me a worried look and whispered, "Something really bad is happening."

  "Of course," I stepped away and summoned items from my inventory to hand to her as I asked, "Tell me what happened."

  Narrowing my eyes I said, “You look great,” with an air of suspicion as I continued, “Where have you been this whole time?”

  She took the few pieces of equipment I offered and equipped them as she explained her journey to get there. Whatever quest that Nomura and Sakurai had done to heal her had succeeded but she she awoke there had been no sign of the duo. Immediately struck with intense fatigue and a need to sleep and recover Mystal had fled to the safest place she could find and dropped into a deep coma-like sleep.

  Afterward she had awoken and set out to find me or one of the others. When I asked how she had hunted me down she made a vague reference to my 'scent'. I restrained from asking what my particular aroma was and asked her to reveal what had so unnerved her. She led me to a high place near the trail that led back down to the L'Chasse Plains.

  The true gravity of the mist woman's worry was spread out below me. What had once been a quiet plain bathed in eternal darkness dotted with small villages was now sprouting plumes of dark smoke rising from bright azure infernos.

  She whispered beside me, "The bad people. Big groups of them. They have been forcing others out of their homes and marching them toward the giant city."

  As she spoke I saw the towering form of one of the Priests of Pain tearing through a forest in pursuit of something or someone. Whole swaths of the forest were cut down by its massive scythe-like arms and I could distantly hear the havoc it was wreaking.

  "We have to find Valerie."

  She gave me a solemn look and whispered, "What about the people?"

  "We will do what we can, but our friend comes first. We can't get mired in a battle out in the wilds while she is in danger in the city."

  "If you say so," her gaze was downcast and she seemed dejected... perhaps guilty.

  Putting an arm around her shoulders I gave her a tight side-hug as I said, "We will do what we can."

  Looking back over her shoulder toward the facility she asked, "What was in that place?"

  The question raised an interesting possibility. Staring back at the empty metal arch that led back into the facility I asked, "Do you trust me?"

  She hugged closer to my side and said sheepishly, "More than anything."

  Nodding I turned and led the way back to the entrance to the looming gateway. As we entered I tried to ignore the sounds as Mystal took misty bites from the cultist's remains. Knowing the way, and finding no respawned monsters in our path we were able to make our way back into the depths of the ancient laboratory and the machine at its heart.

  It was a relief to find the machine coursing with energy and lit with power. Mystal gave me a dubious and concerned look and whispered, "What is it?"

  With a sigh I gave her a sidelong look and whispered, "It's possible it will make you much stronger," my tone gained a note of warning, "but it could hurt you."

  She looked down at me, her eyes wide with hope, as she asked, "But it could help us save people?"

  After a long moment I nodded.

  The mist creature only nodded in return and marched to the machine with no hesitation. She thrust her muscular arm into the machine. We were both engulfed in the brilliant glow as the machine screamed to life enveloping the mist creature in its brilliant glow. When the light subsided she was curled up on the floor at the base of the device, seemingly far more comfortable than I had been after my own adventure with the device.

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

  Ten minutes later I was sprinting across the smoke shrouded landscape with the still sleeping Mystal in my arms. The countryside blurred past me. The creatures of L'Chasse were not a concern. The turmoil in the villages seemed to have driven every living thing into hiding. What had been a plain of violaceous grass and bone colored trees was now windswept with ash and plagued by isolated fires.

  The roads toward Lothin were filled with marching armies of Haithan refugees and armored members of the Immolated Order. From what I could tell the Branded Priests of Pain were roaming countryside rooting out isolated targets. Mayhaps they were punishing those who chose to ignore the Immolated Order's forced migration. The Haithan people were bedraggled, many seeming to still be in states of undress, and covered in ash.

  As we passed a burned out village, attempting to stay out of sight I spied an older Haithan man in armor pause at the side of the road as his neighbors marched in the direction of the city. Clearly exhausted, he took a seat on an old stone fence post to catch his breath. One of the cultists glowered at him and marched over, "Listen here, I don't have all night to keep eyes on fools who fall behind!"

  The old man raised a hand to the cultist and muttered, "I will catch up. Afford an old soldier just a moment of rest?"

  Somewhere distant a Priest of Pain that was tearing apart the forest caused the ground to shake as it toppled a number of trees. There was a short and definitive scream and the cultist grinned at the old guard, "Take all the time you want old man." With that he marched off down the road to catch up with the unfortunate villagers.

  Resting the sleeping Mystal on the ground and assuring that no one was around, I approached the old guard in silence. I watched him for a few minutes until he started to nod off.

  Putting a hand on his shoulder I spoke softly, “You alright there old timer?”

  He sat up sharply and jumped at the sight of me standing beside him. I could sense he was quite afraid but instead of calling out for help he only rasped, “Yo.. young master, you should not be about the countryside unsupervised at this hour. The Immolated Order is not likely to spare you due your station."

  Waving a dismissive hand I considered the old man. Something about his patchy white beard and heavily lidded eyes reminded me of my Romani grandfather. He had talked to me about the old country late at night when I couldn’t sleep and snuck me sweets under the threat of my grandmother’s harsh reprimands.

  Speaking softly I said, “Would you mind doing me the favor of explaining why they are forcing people out of their towns?”

  He managed a smile despite his fatigue and sat up straight as he said, “Remnants, young master. The Immolated Order has spied troop movements from the Necropolis. They claim that the answer to the coming war is in the city and we can save L'Chasse there.”

  With a nod I summoned a small bottle from my inventory. It had been one of the items I had pilfered off the body of the nobleman at the facility. While it was quite valuable I proffered it to him.

  He looked surprised and started to deny the gift but I cut him off, “A little bit of warmth will make this cold walk easier, will it not?”

  He gave me a long look and chuckled tiredly before taking the little bottle from me. After a moment he uncorked it and took a swig, his cheeks brightening visibly under the ash.

  I smiled and he nodded his thanks, “Young master I think you’ve saved me.”

  Nodding I started to turn away but he spoke up, "M'lord, may I inquire where you came about that brooch?"

  Raising a hand I rested a finger on the old cameo I'd found on the body of the Caretaker, "I found it while fighting the Remnants. Do you know its significance?"

  He studied it for a few seconds before nodding, “I knew the woman this belonged to before the troubles with her betrothal and the downfall of her family.”

  “Troubles?”

  He nodded and took another sip from his bottle, “Her name is Magdalene, and she was a minor noble. She was expected to take a number of young men as her consorts and her mother was quite adamant about it. Unfortunately, she had a long affair with a woman named Elysi. Magdalene was quite amenable to spending time with Elysi and her consorts.”

  The old man smirked and shook his head, “Unfortunately, that didn’t quite sit well with Elysi.”

  The old man got more comfortable and continued, “Elysi was hot-headed and quite adamant that Magdalene was hers and hers alone. She ambushed one of the young consorts on the road outside Vertcollin. She killed his guards and then the man himself, but not before cursing him and Magdalene’s mother for trying to tear them apart.

  “Guards from the city rode out and hunted her down. Magda’s mother got the right to execute her. They gagged her and threw her from the top of the Vault of the Remnant. Whole time young Magda was forced to just stand and watch.”

  He gestured in a direction with the small bottle, “She gave up her titles and now lives out in the wilds, became a spinster as no one would choose to be joined to her curse. Not sure how she survives with so many beasts about. Must be about three miles into the forests.”

  Looking off in that direction I asked, “Won't the Immolated Order force her to go to the city?"

  He guffawed and chuckled as he looked off in the direction he had gestured, "They can damned well try. Magda is a fierce and bitter old woman. She has the spirit of a noble woman and..."

  He trailed off when he looked back to where I'd been standing and I was gone.

  –

  When I finally found the old cottage the soldier had described Mystal was still sleeping. it was likely for the best. The farm was surrounded by an orchard of white trees with black skinned fruit covered in yellow spines hanging from its branches. The building itself was low to the ground and made of stone and... surrounded by the corpses of cultists. Once again setting Mystal aside as I approached the first I found had white arrow shaft sticking from his neck. Sensing danger I stepped behind a nearby tree just as an arrow impacted the ground where I had just been standing.

  Leaning against the tree I called out in the direction of the archer, "I'm not a cultist. I just came to return something to you Magda."

  With a prompt, Lydia read out the text for the long ignored quest:

  “Quest

  Find the Cameo’s Owner. Return it to them!

  XP Reward: 250

  You found an ancient and faded cameo locket on the body of the Caretaker. Maybe find out who it belongs to? They probably want it back.”

  Leaning around tree I studied the door to the rundown cottage for a long moment and considered my options.

  Summoning a simple steel dagger from my pile of things to sell, I took the cameo and wrapped its chain necklace around the hilt. Still not seeing a sign of the archer I called out again, "Just going to leave this here. I don't have time for this."

  With a casual throw I sent it flying into the door of the cottage.

  Without waiting to see who retrieved it I turned and carefully hurried back to my unconscious friend. Within seconds we hurried off into the night, putting the minor detour behind us. Within moments of leaving the old cottage behind me Lydia read a prompt:

  “Quest Completed

  Find the Cameo’s Owner. Return it to them!

  XP Gained: 250

  That's one way to return a lost item. Whoever they are, they found the item you so casually tossed into their private property. Their reaction remains a mystery.”

  It would take me another long hour of silent travel through the largely dormant countryside to finally see the much larger city I had been told the cultists and nobles resided in. The roads became choked with armies of poor ash covered Haithans being ushered on by cultist soldiers, knights and robed priests. Sometimes the gargantuan Priests of Pain trundled on beside them scanning the gathered people with sockets often sprouting bladed spears.

  Giving them a wide berth I paused on a hilltop outside the city to set down Mystal and survey the situation.