Day Seven. Mid-Morning.

A few minutes later, I was back in the tunnels with a reluctant Saya in tow.

On my way to fetch the gnome, the thought had occurred to me to ask Saya to teleport me somewhere else—anywhere else. But there were still some things I had left undone in the sector, and as appealing as the idea of fleeing Loken’s oh-too-inquisitive presence was, I suspected doing so would accomplish little.

The Power had found me frighteningly quick after the shield generator had broken, and I still worried about how he’d managed the feat so fast. If I left, it was more than likely that he’d find me again.

“I don’t want to meet him,” Saya whispered furiously to me again for what felt like the hundredth time. “Why do I have to meet him?”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said, tugging on her arm once more when she balked at entering the cave.

“Easy for you to say,” she retorted. “You’re no civilian.” A moment later, she resorted to begging again. “Please. It’s not for the likes of me to mingle with Powers.”

“Don’t worry,” I said soothingly. “He won’t—”

Loken popped into existence behind the gnome. “I don’t bite, you know.”

Saya shrieked, jumping up in terror. If I hadn’t thought to keep a firm grip on her arm, I was sure she would’ve fled.

The Power’s face transformed into a mask of dejection. “Don’t you like me?”

Saya’s mouth worked wordlessly as she tried to figure out a response to that.

I sighed. “Don’t toy with the girl, Loken. She has been through enough already.”

The Power pouted. “You’re no fun, Michael. But I think you’re right.” His gaze slid back to the alchemist. “My dear, if you don’t mind, can I place you in a stasis bubble? I promise you won’t be harmed, but nor will you hear anything... dangerous.”

Saya bobbed her head emphatically. “P-p-please do.”

Loken waved his arm again, and the gnome disappeared under a silver bubble. “There you go. Now we can talk,” he said lightly.

I eyed the dome about Saya suspiciously. It was a twin of the one Loken had placed Ishan in.

“Don’t worry, she’s alright,” Loken said, catching my look. “I’m a Power, and she is a player, and by the rules of the Game, I can’t do anything to harm her. I’ve only placed her—” Loken pointed to Ishan—“and him in temporary stasis. Once we’re done, I’ll release both.”

I nodded reluctantly.

Loken clapped his hands together. “Brilliant. Now tell me why you called me here.” He gestured towards the corpses. “It was certainly not to help you slay your enemies. You seem more than capable of doing that on your own.”

“You read the letter, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I did,” Loken said, “but as fascinating as I found some of your terms, I’m afraid I cannot agree to all of them.”

I scowled. “You’re not trying to wriggle out of our deal now, are you?”

“I’ve struck no ‘deal’ with you,” Loken said primly.

Which was true enough, but I wasn’t letting him off that lightly. I raised the palm of my hand and began ticking off points on my fingers. “I reckon I’ve done a lot to aid Shadow’s cause here. One, I’ve helped you find the location of this sector—which I’m sure you’ve been trying to find for ages. Two, I’ve destroyed the shield generator, allowing any Shadow agents you care to send to enter.”

I gestured to Ishan. I was sure Loken had eavesdropped on my interrogation of Ishita’s sworn before showing himself. “And three, I’ve even uncovered the Awakened Dead’s schemes for the sector.” I glared at Loken. “Surely all of that is worth the paltry sum of one thousand gold?”

I hadn’t written to Loken simply to ask for help. I suspected the Power would have ignored such a one-sided request. Instead, I’d dangled the mystery of the Awakened Dead’s machinations in front of him and, in exchange, demanded payment—in the form of one thousand gold and something else equally valuable.

Loken shrugged airily. “But you’ve done all that already. And while I’m sure you had to work hard to accomplish everything you have, it’s in the past. Done and dusted, and all that. Why do I have to pay now? After all, it’s not like you can undo any of it, can you?”

Dumbfounded, I scowled at Loken.

Does he really mean to…?

The Power bent over and clutched at his sides as he burst out in laughter. “Oh, Michael,” he gasped. “Your expression… it’s priceless.”

I stared at him in consternation.

If anything, Loken’s amusement only grew.

Fuming, I waited him out.

Eventually, Loken straightened, his mirth subsiding. “You really are a gambler, Michael,” he said, still grinning. “And for that reason, if nothing else, I will pay what you’ve asked. But let this be a lesson to you. In the future, don’t trust in a Power’s generosity.”

I grunted. I didn’t. And despite how Loken was twisting matters, I wasn’t depending on his generosity. Still, there was no need to appear ungracious. “Thank you,” I said grudgingly.

“You’re welcome,” Loken replied solemnly. He paused. “But before I can pay you, there is one more thing I need you to do for me.”

I bit back a sigh. Here we go again. “What?” I asked evenly.

Loken raised his arm and traced a slow circle about the cave until his fingers came to a stop pointing at Ishan. “Give him to me.”

“What?” I asked, perplexed. Was Loken joking again?

“I want you to give me Ishita’s sworn servant,” the Power said, without any trace of a smile.

I eyed him suspiciously. “What do you want with Ishan? And I thought Powers couldn’t harm players?”

“We can’t,” Loken agreed. “That’s why I need you to give him to me—” he paused—“or, more precisely, to one of my envoys.”

My mouth worked in confusion. “How do I give Ishan to your envoys? Is one of them in the sector?”

Loken shook his head. “Sadly, I have no agents here.” He pulled out an object from one of his many pockets. It was a silver bracelet, ordinary-looking. “But with this, you can send Ishita’s sworn on his way. Wrap it around his arm, and press this button,” the Power said, indicating a small emerald stud on the center of the bracelet.

“What will that do?”

“It will teleport Ishita’s agent to one of my holding cells in a sector belonging to Shadow.”

I frowned. “You still haven’t said why you want him.”

“What do I want from one of Ishita’s sworn?” Loken asked, amused again. “Why information, dear boy. I suspect that mage over there will be a fount of information. There is a lot I hope he can tell me about those rich dungeon sectors.” The Power grinned, baring gleaming white teeth. “He will be especially useful since Ishita will not know I have him. His fellows will all think he’s died his final death.”

“You believe him then? You think Ishan was telling the truth about the wealth in those dungeons?”

“I do,” the Power replied. “It ties in with other things my agents have observed.” He rubbed at his chin. “For a long time now, I’ve been receiving reports of dramatic improvements in the levels of some Awakened Dead players, leaps in ranks that you wouldn’t ordinarily expect in a short span of time. Then, too, there are the rumors of the powerful items seen in their possession.” Loken glanced at me and shrugged. “When you put that together with what the mage told you, it all makes sense.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

Loken looked at me expectantly again. “So, can I have him?”

I owed Ishan nothing other than what I promised him—the antidote. And if the tables were turned, I was sure the sworn servant would have no compunctions handing me over.

“Alright,” I said slowly. As Loken’s grin began to widen, I added, “but I want something additional too.”

The Power sighed. “Of course, you do,” he said faintly. “Go on, I’m listening.”

“I want an explanation,” I said. “I thought I understood how dungeons in the Game work, but if Erebus went to all this trouble of deceiving his own allies just to control a few dungeon sectors—” I shook my head—“then perhaps my understanding is not as complete as I’d thought.”

Loken chuckled again, seemingly happy with the smallness of my request. “And that’s all you want?”

“That, my thousand gold, and the teleport out of the sector that I asked for in my letter,” I added, not wanting to give him any wriggle room again.

“Of course,” the Power murmured.

“Then do we have a deal?”

Loken nodded gravely. “We do.”

~~~

You have sealed a Pact with the Shadow Power, Loken.

Before Loken and I could see to the conclusion of our Pact, the Power left to scout the sector, promising to be no more than an hour. I gladly acquiesced to the delay, having some of my own matters to attend to.

After Loken vanished, I approached Saya. The Power had released her from stasis before going.

The gnome stood shivering in the center of the cave. Her arms were wrapped tightly about herself, and her eyes were downcast. It was not cold, though, and I realized that it had to be bodies strewn about her that were affecting her so.

Walking up to her, I laid my arms on her shoulder. “Saya, can I ask you for a favor?”

The gnome blinked and, tearing her gaze away from the dead Worca—Besina had savaged her badly—stared at me vacantly. “Yes?”

I gestured to the wyvern mother’s corpse. “Do you think you could harvest her remains?”

Saya’s gaze flitted between the beast’s remains and me. “Besina was almost rank twenty,” she squeaked. “Harvesting her is the job of a full-fledged alchemist. And you want me to do it?” she finished, sounding half-strangled at the end.

Some of the pallor coloring her skin had disappeared, I noted. I shrugged. “I don’t have one of those hanging around,” I said dryly. “You’ll have to do. Will you do it?”

“Of course!” the apprentice replied, her excitement shining through clearly now. But a moment later, her shoulders sagged. “Oh, but I don’t have anywhere to store the ingredients.”

I retrieved the alchemy stone from my pocket and handed it to her. “Will this do?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, eyes widening. “Where did you get that from?”

“From Gelar.” I guided her to the wyvern. “Go ahead. And when you’re done, we must talk.”

She nodded and set to work. Leaving her to it, I turned my attention to the other bodies in the cave.

It was time to loot them.