“The smart thief doesn’t grab the first thing that catches his eye.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Magnus***

I increase my speed to catch up with Sely. “That idea is hilarious!” I start laughing, but nobody else joins in. After a few moments I stop and check their faces. “Oh, come on. Don't you find that hilarious?”

All of them show grim determination.

Tina shakes her head. “I don't think that it would be hilarious if the fae get their hands on the orb! It's a power source with incredible potential. Our people used it to put northern Europe under a layer of ice which was over a kilometre thick. Who knows what else it can be used for.”

I snort. “Oh, come on! It has been collecting dust in my basement for several thousand years. The thing is outdated. The fae pull off this whole foray, just to steal the orb!? They go for greek fire instead of modern napalm? It's like breaking into a high security facility, just to steal the power generator when they could take the nuke instead.”

They stare at me for several long moments. Then Cecilia steps closer. “Do you want to tell me, that you have stuff down there which is more dangerous than the orb!? Why do you even have such things!?”

I shake my head. “Of course not! The dangerous stuff is inside the high security safe in my workroom. And as for the why, I had to defend my territory on my own. What would I've done if another clan invaded my territory? I needed some weapons of sufficient power to repel such attacks.”

Tina curses and turns to Sely. “Do you believe him? He is teasing us!”

Sely purses her lips. “I am afraid that he isn't joking. According to him, the enchanted chewing gum in his workroom could blow up the mansion. I wonder what else he has lying around.”

I roll my eyes and continue down the corridor. “Come on. It would be inconvenient if those fuckers really steal the orb. It's still powering my Veil and the reality marble.”

We reach the entrance to the dungeon, where I step over a puddle on the floor. “Those guys are really determined. They broke down the door to the dungeon.”

Sely huffs. “I thought that this part of the reality marble is protected.”

I point at the puddle on the floor. “Nobody said that they didn't have to pay a price.”

Tom raises his foot and curls down the corners of his mouth, showing his displeasure. He stepped into the puddle. Upon closer inspection, the substance on his boot turns out to be red. “What the fuck happened to him!?”

I shrug and continue walking. “The door had several magical traps which could be responsible for such a result. Going by the puddle, I suppose that he either triggered the gravity magic, or the disintegration spell.”

I guide them through the labyrinth as quickly as possible. We are slowed down by the fact that the fae triggered almost all of my traps. Each time, they paid the toll in lives to learn their lesson. Most of my traps are limited to a one time activation, but some I've to deactivate. Otherwise I would risk my comrades triggering them by accident.

Telling them that they have to step-dance down a corridor in a certain rhythm doesn't mean that they can perform the feat correctly on their first try.

“I guess that takes us down to eleven thieves.” I step over the corpse of yet another fae who was cleanly sliced in two. “It reminds me of that human song. Ten Little Indians! That's it! Nobody can say that the humans don't know dark humour.”

“I think they would call that song racism nowadays,” Leila adds.

“Oh, please. Back then, nobody even knew what racism was. They can be so irrational. Did you know that they even changed this country’s national song because it wasn't gender sensitive? Now it doesn't even rhyme! A great cultural achievement! Simply change the texts of history if you don't like them,” I rant and peek around the corner of another tunnel. There is no guarantee that the fae didn’t leave some presents behind.

I would do exactly that if I were in their place.

Tom grunts. “Their short lifespans allow them to lie to future generations. All they have to do, is to change their recorded history. I wonder if we should allow them access to our historical texts. They already know of us, so how bad can it be?”

Tina almost trips. “Are you insane? They would freak out. I am not an expert on human psychology, but self-denial seems to be an important part of their psyche. There is no way to tell what would happen if we told them the truth.”

Approving murmurs from the others quickly stop Tom from spinning his idea even further.

It doesn't matter, since we've reached our goal. We are in the deepest part of the dungeon. The long corridor with chests stretches out in front of us. Something feels strange about it. I don't know the exact reason for my hunch, but it’s surely good to stay on high alert.

“Why did it take so long to get here? The last time you brought us here we were a lot faster and you didn't have to disarm traps,” Sely asks from behind me.

I slowly advance down the tunnel. “We used the doorway to enter the dungeon directly. It also automatically disarmed any traps in our path. This time, we entered through the normal entrance.”

A long, keening howl startles me and I stop my advance to aim the gatling gun down the tunnel. When there is no more noise, I continue onwards until I reach a certain chest. It's open. “The eleventh chest on the left side! They released the rattler! Fools!” Another howl causes me to twitch and I aim at the end of the tunnel.

Leila's eyes widen. “What's a rattler? Is it dangerous!?”

“How should I know? All I know is that this special chest always freaked me out! I felt that someone powerful is in there, so I never dared to look inside it. Most of the things down here are locked away for a reason. My people aren't of the squeamish sort, so if they lock something away then I won't question their decision.”

Another terrified scream sounds down the corridor. I curse and start running. On my way, I jump over the corpse of yet another fae. I notice his wounds and quickly come to the conclusion that he was simply ripped apart. Very much like a child would rip out the legs of an insect.

I reach the large chamber which holds the orb. It's still embedded in the wall at the far end of the chamber and a large fae is trying to pry it loose. It isn't an easy task, since the orb is connected to the mansion's energy grid. Energy and light pulses from the four power lines which are attached to the orb.

Four fae are trying to hold something at bay. They drove it into a dark corridor to the left side of the room. Another five aim their weapons at me. I abandon the gatling gun, fearing that I could hit the orb. I howl and charge into the room, summoning all the power at my disposal.

The male fae at the orb doubles his efforts. He has white hair and his skin is almost white. His guards form a wall to block me.

I flick my wrist to shake another card out of my sleeve. Concentrating my power, I channel everything I have into the card and slap it onto my chest. The world around me immediately slows down, but I know that it's just a subjective effect. The spell simply gave me a boost of speed.

I weave left and right, dodging spells while I simply take the non-lethal bullets. The space between me and my enemies was so full of spells that I saw no other way to get through. A bullet tears painfully through my thigh, but I go on. I can take a little lead.

The fae have the entrance to the chamber well covered, so the others would have to pay a heavy price to get inside.

The fae with the sub-machine gun is still firing when I reach him and grab his hand. Pulling, I redirect his aim onto the other four. The bullets punch right through the first victim and shred the three behind him. A voice in my head howls 'Quadra Kill!' as the fae go down. I kick my opponent's knee and bring him down while I twist the weapon out his hands.

Flipping the weapon around, I empty the rest of the magazine into the fae's head. The voice inside my head calls out 'Penta Kill!'. I really have to stop playing those games. Turning, I attempt to go for the boss, but he managed to free the orb. Laughing triumphantly, he tosses a small seed to the ground and casts a spell in my direction. A ball of pure energy is the result.

If I hadn't been on steroids, I wouldn't have reacted in time. I reach into my pockets and toss all my inhibition dice into the spell's way. Without a better idea at hand, I place my hands in front of my face and my chest. It's like I was hit by ball of pure lightning. The power of the blast throws me backwards into a wall and I land hard.

‘Shut Down!’ Shut up! Stupid voice!

The others slowly storm the room and go for the orb. They easily overwhelm the fae who guard the other corridor and have their backs to us. I realize that my people aren’t slow at all. My spell is still active.

Something in my chest cracks and I slide to the ground as the time returns to its normal speed. “Ow, why always the ribs!?” I complain and try to get up, but before I can do anything, the male fae with the orb steps over the small seedling which grew from the seed. He dissolves inside a green rift of light which opened for him. The seedling itself immediately dries up and dies afterwards.

Then Sely is at my side. “What happened!? You look like a giant stepped onto you.”

“They took the orb!” Tina calls out.

I cough up blood and get back to my feet. “Careful! Corridor!” I point at the dark corridor which the fae covered until my people came over them. “Something. In there.”

Tom bends down and picks up my gatling gun. Then he aims it at the indicated corridor. “Is there another way out of that corridor?”

I shake my head. “Dead end. Just a machine room.” That's when energy pipes at the wall stop pulsing and go dark. Without the source of light, the whole room is suddenly pitch black.

Sely's voice is right at my ear. “Don't tell me that the reality marble will collapse.”

I don't have to answer, since the backup kicks in. Energy returns to the pipes and the room is lit up with a soft, blue light. A large orb starts glowing above us, turning everyone's attention to the ceiling. It's two metres in diameter and its runes look very similar to the ones on the original.

“No need. I installed a backup long ago,” I explain.

Sely helps me to my feet, but there is no time for any further discussions. A figure steps out of the dark corridor and I draw in a sharp breath. The man is pale and as thin as a twig. His beard and his hair are long enought to touch the ground and disappear in the darkness behind him. He is holding a leg and munching on it like it's the tastiest thing he's had in centuries. His mad expression isn’t reassuring.

Tom aims the gun at the horrifying figure, but Cecilia pushes the barrel down so that it aims at the ground.

“Magnus? You are so pale. Who is that?” Sely asks.

I recognize the tattoos on his chest. “Hatlix!” It’s grandpa! Though he looks more like a ghoul. Then I realize that he must’ve been the one inside the chest. Without a second thought I pick up Sely in a bridal carry and start running. “Run!”

We run away, followed by the rest of our group and the screams of a mad man close behind us.