“Not a standard latch system,” Angel muttered to himself. He traced the points on his fingers along the thin grooves in the pendant, feeling for any hidden switches. There were none. He clicked his tongue and turned the pendant over.

The back was plain and unadorned aside from a small circle in the center. Angel tapped it, but nothing happened. A flicker of excitement rose up within him. An artifact without a discernible way to open it often meant it contained Old World magic.

He suppressed his emotions. Losing his cool would only result in destroying the delicate artifact before he could pry the secrets from within it. There didn’t appear to be any physical way to open the locket without forcing it, which would surely destroy its delicate contents.

Luckily, he had more tools at his disposal. Angel drew a deep breath, reaching far within himself. An electric sensation traveled down from the base of his neck and to his feet. He set the tweezers down as the fingers on his left hand tingled faintly. Angel paused, closing his eyes to push out the rest of the world.

“It’ll work this time,” Angel promised himself. “All of it. Not just a scrap. Then it’ll all be worth it.”

He slowly lowered a single finger, too concentrated to even draw a breath. The magic bucked and heaved against his will, but he didn’t let it go. Angel tapped the circle, directing the energy to flow into the circle.

A tiny spark of blue light jumped out from his finger and entered the circle. The locket jumped and the circle lit up with a faint blue light. Angel could have jumped for joy. His heart was pumping like a steam engine in his chest.

Slowly, Angel picked his tweezers back up and held the locket steady. He raised his other arm, examining the locket for a few moments before gently touching the circle with a pointed finger. His hand remained remarkably steady as he slowly traced the length of the circle. A click rang out and one of the latches popped open.

Angel turned the locket over. Two designs had lit up on the front of the locket. They’d been hidden in the flowing lines before, but Angel recognized the Old World runes for ‘open’ and ‘break. He swallowed and traced the ‘open’ rune.

Another latch popped open. The lights changed again, this time forming into a design that Angel had never seen. He bit the inside of his cheek, sitting back in his chair and moving the magnifying glass away from his eye.

“Damn it,” he cursed. “I’m so close.”

Someone knocked on his door.

“I’m busy,” Angel yelled. “I’m good for rent, Fence. You’ll get it later.”

Nobody responded. Angel sighed and returned his attention to the pendant. He licked his lips and glanced up at a circular tablet hanging on his wall. It had a single spiral pattern on the front end. After a moment, he grabbed it and set it down on the table beside the pendant.

He pulled another spark of magic into his left hand and sent it into the disk. A puff of steam came out from it as the tablet opened like a clam, revealing a clockwork inside with half a dozen tiny, spiderlike legs.

Angel chewed his bottom lip. Then he steeled his nerves and picked the pendant up. The small mechanical legs within the other artifact reached out for it, and he obliged them, setting the still glowing pendant down within the strange contraption.

He flicked the eyepiece down again and focused all his attention on the two artifacts. The clamshell’s little legs worked at a steady pace, pressing and touching on parts of the pendant with immaculate precision that only a machine could achieve.

As the seconds ticked by, the little legs started to tug and pull on the magic lighting the pendant, tracing a new line across its surface. A droplet of sweat rolled down Angel’s forehead and fell to the ground.

The magic in the pendant blinked out. A click split the silent air and the pendant swung open. Angel pumped a hand in the air and let out a whoop. Then he gathered himself and cleared his throat, carefully taking his prize from the clamshell.

He had to pry it from the machine’s tiny little legs, but they eventually let go and the artifact closed itself with a snap. Angel was too preoccupied with his new prize to care. The inside of the pendant contained a miniature clock, but the hands weren’t moving.

“Now, what secrets do you hold?” Angel mused aloud. Predictably, the clock didn’t respond to him. Angel mentally went through the path that the artifact had taken to open the locket, embedding it into his memory.

Someone knocked on the door again. This time, it was much more insistent. Angel irritably grabbed the clamshell and hung it from its hook. He set the pendant down on the table and walked over to the door.

“I told you not to bother me when I’m working!” Angel snapped, swinging it open. “The city better be on fi–”

“Shut up,” Fence hissed. His face was pale and sweat had beaded up on his brow. “The guards are here, boy. What did you do?”

“The guards” Angel asked, baffled. “I haven’t done anything that they’d care about. Are you sure they’re here for the right person?”

A tall woman wearing a sharp blue cloak and a low brimmed conductor’s hat swept into his room from behind Fence. Her blonde hair hung low over her shoulders, and she wore state-of-the-art gauntlets on both hands.

“I’m quite certain,” the woman said, examining the room.

“What do you want with me?” Angel asked. “I’ve broken no laws.”

“You may go,” the woman said, shutting the door in Fence’s face. She snapped her fingers and a wave of shimmering gray energy swept outwards, forming a large bubble around the two of them. A canister popped out of her gauntlet. She grabbed it out of the air and put it into a small bag hanging from her waist.

The woman took her hat off and turned back to Angel. Her eyes were a dull reddish brown that set his hair on end. “My name is Magistrate Dalliah, and I’d like to hire you for a job.”

Angel nearly choked on his saliva. He coughed into his elbow, then squinted at the woman. He flicked his head to the side and the eyepiece dropped down. Dalliah frowned but stood still as he scanned her.

Race: Human

Name: Dalliah Withermore

Level 244

Status: Healthy

Information accuracy: 93%

Strength: 78

Intelligence: 156

Nimbleness: 204

Toughness: 52

Rating: Extremely Dangerous

Weak point(s): Heart, Neck (6/100)

Element(s): None

Error: Unable to analyze further. Information incomplete

Two pinpoints of light formed on Dalliah’s neck and heart. Angel’s eyebrows rose and he flicked the glass away. He tried to keep his gaze steady as he found himself thankful for the artifact at his ear. Those numbers dwarfed anything he’d ever seen, even in the catacombs that he’d turned around and walked out of. Even so, the artifact hadn’t led him astray yet. If this woman wasn’t the Magistrate, he didn’t even want to know who she was.

“The Magistrate?” Angel asked, half expecting the woman to burst into laughter and tell him it was a joke. “There are Seekers that work directly for the city. With all due respect, why do you need me?”

Dalliah ignored Angel’s question. She walked up to the wall beside his desk and peered at one of the disassembled artifacts.

“If you sold half the relics you destroyed, you’d be a very wealthy man,” she observed.

“Not everything is about money.”

“And that’s exactly why I’m here,” Dalliah replied. She took the artifact – a small sphere with a bundle of wires hanging loosely from a hole – and turned it over in her hand. Angel winced but said nothing.

“I don’t follow.”

“You aren’t motivated by money. In a job that revolves around making as much money as possible to retire before you die in the catacombs, that’s a rare trait.”

Angel took the artifact from her as delicately as he could and hung it back on the wall. Dalliah just cocked an eyebrow.

“What do you need, then?” Angel asked. “I might not be driven by money, but I don’t work for free.”

“I could order you to,” Dalliah said.

“You wouldn’t have come to a no-name Seeker if you had better options,” Angel said, sitting down in his chair. “I have no clue why, but you need me for something.”

Dalliah eyed him for a moment. Then she sighed and massaged her forehead. “I suppose I should be glad that you’re clever. Better chances of succeeding that way.”

“I’ve yet to agree to do anything.”

“Fine. I’d like you to escort someone through the Barren.”

“That’s it?” Angel asked, frowning. “Crossing the desert is hardly a difficult task for a Seeker. Why do you need me for it?”

Dalliah pressed her lips together. “That’s not necessary. I simply need you to escort someone to Molten Cliffs.”

Angel choked for the second time that day. “Ah. You’re trying to kill me for some reason. It’s one thing to travel to a nearby city, but you’re asking me to cross the entire desert. That’s… more than a week of travel at the least. I’m a Seeker, not a Hunter.”

“You’ve done it before,” Dalliah pointed out, crossing her arms and looming over him.

“You’ve done your research,” Angel said. “But not all of it, Miss. That was with my Master, who was a Hunter. And that was ten years ago.”

“Seekers have fantastic memory,” Dalliah replied. “You could do it.”

“Even if I could, I’m not keen on the journey. Traversing the Barren is hard enough on my own, and I’m not sure I could do it. Add on another person….” Angel shrugged. “Why don’t you get a blimp or hire someone with a vehicle?”

“Not an option,” Dalliah said curtly. “I can pay you more than adequately for the journey.”

“I’m not interested in dying for a bit of coin.”

“Who said anything about coin?” Dalliah asked, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a small red box. Golden designs ran across its surface, forming intricate pictures on every single side.

Angel’s eyes bulged and he had to keep himself from lunging at Dalliah.

“A relic,” he breathed.

“An untouched one. I don’t even know what it does,” Dalliah said with a smug grin. “It’s yours if you take the job.”

Angel swallowed. His fingers twitched at his side and his brain yelled at him to refuse, but both he and Dalliah knew that he’d already lost their verbal fight.

“I’ve got three conditions,” Angel said, finally getting control of himself again.

“Speak, then.”

“Tell me who I’m escorting. You’re clearly trying to hide their identity, but I’m not going to travel the Barren with someone I don’t know. I know how to be discreet, but I won’t budge on that.”

Dalliah didn’t respond immediately, which told Angel he’d made the right move. After nearly a minute, the woman clenched her hands and gave him a single nod.

“Next, I want payment upfront,” Angel said. “I mean no offense, but I’ve been scammed one too many times to assume that you’ll pay me for such a secretive mission.”

Surprisingly, Dalliah nodded immediately after he finished speaking. “I expected as much.”

“Finally, I want more than just the relic. I’m going to need around ten Vei.”

“I thought you didn’t care for money,” Dalliah said, curling her lip in distaste. “Ten Vei is enough to buy passage on an airship.”

“Which you would have done already if it was an option.”

“The relic is worth easily ten times that,” Dalliah said. “Sell it if you’re so desperate for money.”

“The money isn’t for me,” Angel said. “It’s to hire a Hunter. There’s no way I can cross the desert on my own with a dead weight. Your charge and I will both die. Don’t worry – I’ll make sure they’re discreet.”

Dalliah let out a slow breath. She examined Angel’s face for a few moments, then let out a sigh. “Fine.”

She extended her hand. Angel shook it with his mechanical limb. She tossed him the relic. He grabbed the palm-sized box from the air, cradling it like a child.

“If you fail, make sure you disappear thoroughly,” Dalliah said, her eyes cold. “Because if I find you, you’ll be breathing blood for the rest of your very short life.”

“Relax with the threats,” Angel replied. “I’m good for my word. You already know that, or we wouldn’t be talking. So, who’s my new duckling? A political prisoner? Some refugee?”

“My daughter.”

“Oh,” Angel said. “Shit.”