“You’ve already taken the payment,” Dalliah said, nodding at the relic in Angel’s hand. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and set the relic down on the table beside the pendant.

“I should have asked for more.”

“Your fault for not checking sooner,” Dalliah said, a flicker of a smirk crossing her face. “I hope you’re not going to go back on your word. That would be most… unfortunate.”

“I already said I would be good for it,” Angel said, waving his hand wearily. “I have to ask – why does your daughter need an escort? Surely you can afford a vehicle or passage aboard a blimp for her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Dalliah said, shaking her head. “The Magistrate of Salt Lake is visiting Bronze City soon. He seeks my daughter’s hand in marriage. And I’ll remind you that this information is strictly confidential. Tell it to anyone, and I’ll treat it as if you failed.”

“Of course,” Angel said, trying not to let the fear show on his face. “So… she’s running away?”

“I will not force my daughter to marry a disgusting man fifty years older than her,” Dalliah said, her brow furrowing. “As much as I hate to admit it, Salt Lake’s military is much stronger than mine. We cannot afford to openly defy them. If they arrive and my daughter is still in the city, her fate is sealed.”

“I see. So you’re sending her to Molten Cliffs, an impartial city-state with a military that dwarfs both yours and Salt Lake’s. Clever. But… she’ll lose her way of life. Is she prepared to do that? Going from a noble to a commoner isn’t easy.”

“I’ve done what I can,” Dalliah replied. “My daughter is the one who requested I do this. I have arranged for her to attend the Molten Cliffs Academy and learn a trade of her choice. Once she is strong enough or builds connections with other powerful sources, she can return here. Your job will only be to escort her to the city.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it thought out,” Angel said. “In that case, I’m going to need a day or two to prepare. I’ve got to hire a Hunter, get supplies, and find a map that isn’t completely outdated if we’re going to have a chance to live through this.”

Dalliah counted out ten shimmering silver coins and set them down on the table before Angel. “Do what you need but be hasty. Some of the Salt Lake’s men are already here under the guise of diplomatic relations, and they have my daughter under watch. They’ll know the moment she leaves.”

“That should be fine,” Angel said. “Expect me the day after tomorrow morning, before the sun has risen. Have her ready by then.”

Dalliah pressed her lips together and nodded. “I hope we don’t have to speak again. Good luck.”

The gray bubble around them popped. The tall woman spun on her heel and strode out the door, nearly knocking Fence over as she left. The two men watched her step out of the shop and disappear into the crowd.

“I’m sorry – I tried to warn you that she was coming,” Fence said. “A guard was nosing around the shop earlier, but I told them that you weren’t here. But when she got here, she just bowled past me. What did she want from you? I couldn’t hear anything.”

“Trust me, it’s better that you don’t know,” Angel replied, shifting to block Fence’s view of the relic on his table. “Bad business. Very bad business. You’d do well to forget she ever came by. Your life could depend on it.”

Fence’s eyes widened. “That bad?”

“She used a silence spell, Fence. What do you think?”

Fence swallowed. Angel grabbed one of the Vei on his table and tossed it to Fence. The large merchant caught it. His eyebrows rose.

“A Vei? Angel, you idiot. You’re not working with her, are you?”

“That’ll be enough to cover my rent for the next two years at least,” Angel said. “And it’s more than enough to make sure my stuff doesn’t get ransacked. I expect everything to still be here when I get back.”

Fence glanced down at the coin. Then he sighed and slipped it into a greasy pocket on his leather apron. “Your funeral, Angel. I’ll leave your corner alone. Are you really going to be gone for two years?”

“Probably not, but it looks like I’m going on vacation. Maybe I’ll stick around the new place for a little bit. Either way, I’d like to not have to worry about my artifacts.”

“They’ll be here. Probably.” Fence turned and lumbered back into the shop, leaving Angel alone with his thoughts.

The Seeker swept the remaining nine Vei into his bag and sat back down at his desk. After a moment, he grabbed an oilcloth from his tool crate and wrapped the relic in it several times. He took the wooden box out and popped it open, putting the relic into it and placing the box into his bag.

Angel grimaced as his palm throbbed. He caught a faint flash of purple before it vanished back into his skin. What felt like a static shock ran down his arm and coursed through his chest before fading away.

He flicked his eyepiece down and his body lit up in an orange glow as it scanned him. The artifact let out a ding as it displayed his status page on the glass before him.

Race: Human

Name: Angel

Level: 26 [1%]

Status: Unknown – Foreign Entity Detected

Information accuracy: 95%

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 19 [+1]

Nimbleness: 16 [+1]

Toughness: 5

Comparative Rating: Minor Threat

Weak point(s): Heart, Neck, Arteries… (100/100)

Element(s): Steel, [Unknown]

Magicore: None (40% Attunement)

Angel frowned and moved the eyepiece back. An unknown status was better than being poisoned, but not by much. An extra element had also shown up, but it wasn’t going to be doing him any favors in its current state.

“Just what was that purple thing?” Angel wondered aloud. “I’m not dead yet, so I suppose it can’t be all that bad.”

He yawned, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. A glance through his dirty window showed that the sun had long since set, but Angel couldn’t bring himself to go to bed quite yet. He picked his tweezers back up and carefully lifted the pendant, peering at the tiny clock within it.

There was always the possibility that it was broken, but Angel doubted it. The locking mechanism worked perfectly, so whatever Old World magic the little metal timepiece had was just waiting for him to discover it.

He spent nearly two hours fiddling with the pendant, but ultimately found nothing. As far as Angel could tell, there were no mechanical switches anywhere on the inside that could activate it. He held back on trying magic out of fear of damaging the device. Artifacts were notoriously fragile if used incorrectly, and the last thing he wanted to do was break the darn thing before he could figure out how it worked.

Angel finally set the pendant down on the table and headed to bed. There were so many thoughts running through his head that it took him nearly an hour to fall asleep. When he did, his mind was filled with visions of thundering Old World magic and the endless expanse of the Barren.

A trickle of sunshine broke through Angel’s window, alighting on his nose. The Seeker twitched as he was pulled out of his rest. With a sigh, he opened his eyes. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, there was just too much he had to take care of.

He rolled off his mattress and pulled his clothes on while suppressing a yawn. Angel scanned the room, taking several of the artifacts hanging from the wall down and wrapping them in oilcloth. He put them into a small travel bag and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed the pendant and wrapped it as well before putting it into a pocket in his heavy duster.

Angel picked up his board and attached it to his back before stepping out into Fence’s shop. The large man was fast asleep in his chair. Angel rolled his eyes and closed his room’s door behind him, locking it and heading out of the shop.