Arturo ushered me back into the chapel and guided me to a dais where an altar stood. It was a slate-gray pedestal with five sides—each side depicted a different face: a matronly woman, a young maiden, a grizzled veteran, a bald fanatic, and an androgynous mannequin. Seeing them jarred something loose inside my head and I felt a powerful wave of déjà vu. I’d seen these people before, while I floated through the cosmos, suspended between death and new life.

I couldn’t remember anything else about them, though. They were a blank slate, a word right on the tip of the tongue. Cal’s words drifted back to me. Turns out the human brain isn’t really equipped to handle the complexities of ultimate reality, which is why you have weird amnesia.

Floating above the pedestal was a glassy black orb, about the size of a softball.

“This is the heart of our temple,” Arturo said, “the sacred altar dedicated to the Five-Faced God.” He placed a hand on the stone, and a subtle golden light enveloped him. “Myself, and Arbitrators like me, use such altars as conduits of prayer. I can feel Raguel’s energy here, and when I touch it, I can sense the ear of god turning toward me. Listening for my supplications. For Vigils, such an altar is said to be something else entirely. A doorway into the Soul Vault and a way to commune with the spirits above.”

My ears perked up the second he said Soul Vault. There was a lot I didn’t know about, but I’d seen several Soul Vaults firsthand after killing and looting the Crave Ghouls. The idea that I might have a Soul Vault of my own was an intriguing notion.

“The secrets of the Vigilant are closely guarded by the order, so I can’t tell you how to use the altar or access the Vault within, but all the lore says you need merely to touch the stone in order to be whisked away by the power of Raguel.” He pulled his hand away from the floating orb, and the cone of light surrounding him dimmed then faded completely. “Go on then. Try it.”

Here goes nothing, I thought as I stepped up onto the dais. Immediately, I felt power thrumming around me. I licked my lips and tentatively pressed my hand up against the stone. The whole world trembled, energy surging along my limbs. The citadel fell away, and I abruptly found myself in a circular chamber of crystal, gold, and glass.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Fluted columns rose up and up and up, connecting to a golden domed ceiling overhead that appeared to be made out of the same fabric as the universe itself. Pinpricks of starlight dusted the velvety backdrop, and when I focused hard enough, I could see galaxies spinning away in the distance. Part of me wanted to just lie on my back and get lost in the endless constellations, but there was too much else to investigate. The floor was covered with an elaborate tiled mosaic depicting five different symbols: one gold, another blue, a third green, the fourth red, and the last a ghostly silver.

Screw me, I thought, spinning in a slow circle, this place is epic. Like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude or the Bat Cave. And there was stuff in it. Six alcoves connected to the main chamber where I found myself, each as impressive as the central hall.

In the center of the main chamber was a modestly sized reflection pool of white marble, and filling the basin was the bluest water I’d ever seen, along with a pair of koi, one gold and one silver, swimming in graceful, looping arcs. Even crazier was what was floating above the pool of water. Rotating in a slow and steady circle was a perfect replica of myself. Same scars, same golden hair and unnatural red eyes. Everything identical, right down to the birthmark marring the back of my right thigh. A stat screen popped up next to my floating avatar.

>>

Boyd Knight

Race: Vigil Bound

Level: Novice, Silver Rank

Current Essence: 879

Next Ascended Rank (Novice, Gold): 1,500

Attribute Points: +1

Ward Points: +25

Characteristics

Brawn: 17

Verve: 18

Finesse: 15

Arcana: 12

Insight: 14

Vigil Wards

Ward of Justice: Soul Bound Weapons (Boon)

Ward of Valor: Diamond Body (Boon)

Ward of Wrath: Arcane Insight (Boon)

Ward of Balance: Language of the Heavens (Boon)

Ward of Truth: Threads of Fate (Boon)

Expand Ward List

>>

I read each line, trying to commit them to memory, before finally focusing on the last option, Expand Ward List. My stat screen vanished, replaced by a deluge of new info. When I wasn’t training for ops or drinking beer with the boys, I was often hunched behind a TV screen grinding my way through Deadwatch Crusade, so I knew a spell and special ability list when I saw one. I had spells and I had a lot of ’em. I didn’t know how to use ’em, but that definitely squared with all the monster hunting mumbo jumbo Arturo had told me about.

>>

Expanded Ward List

Ward of Justice

Boon of Gadriel: Soul Bound Weapons (Unlocked) Ranged Weapon Mastery Overcharge; Cost: 4 Quick Hands; Cost: 6 Maximum Penetration; Cost: 9 Guided Shot; Cost: 15 Automated Sentinel; Cost: 20 Melee Weapon Mastery Rend; Cost: 3 Peerless Warrior; Cost: 5 Crippling Strike; Cost: 8 Festering Wound; Cost: 15 Juggernaut; Cost: 25 Warforged Mastery Arcane Armorer; Cost 5 Armor Evocation; Cost: 6 Weapon Mastery: Blades; Cost: 10 Weapon Mastery: Blunt; Cost: 10 Weapon Mastery: Range; Cost: 10

Ward of Valor

Boon of Voch: Diamond Body (Unlocked) Bastion of the Protector Combat Sense; Cost: 4 Matchless Endurance; Cost: 6 Purity of Form; Cost: 10 Spiked Shell; Cost: 14 Unmoving Bulwark; Cost: 18 Bastion of the Healer Empathetic Healer; Cost: 5 Plague Doctor; Cost: 10 Heal Wounds; Cost: 15 Circle of Restoration; Cost: 20 True Resurrection; Cost: 27 Bastion of Presence Mantle of Strength; Cost: 5 Mantle of Authority; Cost: 8 Mantle of Sanctuary; Cost: 10 Mantle of Scales; Cost: 14 Mantle of Healing; Cost: 22

Ward of Balance

Boon of Lero: Tongue of the Cosmos (Unlocked) Bestial Magics: Totem Transformation; Cost: 2 Bestiality Vigor; Cost: 5 Ravenous Feeding; Cost: 12 Rabid Infection; Cost: 18 Totem Bound; Cost: 22 Fae Magics Fae Tether; Cost: 4 SidhePact; Cost: 5 Pierce Veil; Cost: 10 Cunning Glamor; Cost: 12 Fae Footed: Cost: 28 Elemental Magics Spectral Roots; Cost: 4 Absorb Elements; Cost: 6 Water Wright; Cost: 10 Earth Sculptor; Cost: 10 Metallurgy Manipulation; Cost: 10

Ward of Wrath

Boon of Thuriel: Arcane Insight (Unlocked) Path of Violence Warded Shield; Cost: 5 Kinetic Blast; Cost: 5 Unbound Blaze; Cost: 12 Arctic Spike; Cost: 12 Electro Arc; Cost: 12 Path of Retribution Upheaval; Cost: 12 Rain of Fire; Cost: 15 Storm Caller; Cost: 17 Circle of Banishment; Cost: 20 Raguel’s Divine Retribution; Cost: 30 Path of Death: Life Siphon; Cost: 4 Soul Jar; Cost: 6 Mind Vault; Cost: 10 Ritual Reanimate; Cost: 22 Soul Storm; Cost: 28

Ward of Truth

Boon of Akora: Threads of Fate (Unlocked) College of Rhetoric Master Mentalist; Cost: 4 Calm Emotions; Cost: 8 Honeyed Words; Cost: 10 Greater Suggestion; Cost: 16 Grave Communion; Cost: 24 College of Deception Stealth Step; Cost: 5 Deft Touch; Cost: 8 Wyld Wisdom; Cost: 15 Dream Thief; Cost: 15 Crystalline Shell; Cost: 25 College of Reason Sage Smith; Cost: 10 Mortka Forger; Cost: 10 Affinity Retrofitter; Cost: 10 Arcane Transmuter; Cost 10 Alchemic Mastery; Cost: 10

>>

After reading the names of each ability, I finally dismissed the list with a thought. Unfortunately, there was no more information immediately forthcoming, which was annoying, but I wasn’t about to give up so easily.

Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

I turned away and surveyed the alcoves more closely. The first room looked equal parts museum and storage room. A series of pedestals littered the floor, each topped with a glass display case, though all of them were currently empty. Ample shelving space ran along the left and right walls, just waiting to be filled with items. Since the room was barren, I had no idea what it was supposed to be used for, but I was sure I would find out in time.

The next room in line contained a quartet of marble mannequins—three lined the back wall while one stood in the center of the room like a platoon sergeant addressing his troops. That one was wearing the same ratty gear I’d picked up at the Three Chimneys and the armor I’d looted off the Ghouls. The other figures stood empty and barren, but I had the distinct feeling they weren’t meant to remain that way.

The room beyond that sported glossy onyx walls framing in what I assumed was a blacksmith’s workshop. There was a crystalline forge, what appeared to be a fabrication station, and a wall filled with odd-looking tools that I had no names for along with an elaborate workbench.

The fourth room was an armory, I had no doubts about that, though currently there were only two weapons inside: my K-Bar and my Colt. Both were prominently displayed like trophies along the back wall.

The fifth alcove resembled a barracks room—slick floors, a simple metal cot, and a beat-up footlocker positioned at the end of the rack. The bed was covered with the familiar scratchy green wool blanket that any Marine would know on sight, and the corners were all at crisp 45s. A place to crash, apparently, and so spartan and orderly that even Drill Instructor Screw Y’all would’ve approved. Thanks to the weekly practice of Marine Corps field day—an ancient rite of passage that involved cleaning, drinking, and hysterically screaming—there was no higher compliment than to have a squared-away room.

Still not what I was looking for.

I stopped at the entrance to the final room, a wide smile stretching across my face.

Pay dirt.

A library with gracefully carved bookcases, a small study desk, and a padded leather chair perfect for reading. The bookcases were mostly empty, but mostly empty wasn’t completely empty. And maybe those books could tell me some of the basics. I beelined toward the double fistful of volumes and trailed my fingers over the spines: Divine Bounty Log. The Handbook of the Vigilant. A Vigil’s Bestiary. Pellervo’s Guide to the Soul Forge. A Brief History of Raguel the Five Faced God. Grimoire of Virtues.

The titles were all odd and exotic sounding but the next few books that took up residency along the shelf were even more shocking. Weapons manuals. I’d done a stint attached to the Armory, and I knew the insides and outsides of damn near every weapon the Marine Corps employed—and a fair few it didn’t, at least not officially. It wasn’t like the Marine Corps issued AK-47s, but since insurgents all had hard-ons for the Russian-made assault rifles, it only made sense that we knew how to use them too.

And there, lined up in a neat little row like Marines on formation, were weapons manuals.

Colt .45 Pistol M1911 & M1911A1. US MARINE CORPS TECHNICAL MANUAL RIFLE, 5.56 MM, M16A2 TM 05538C-23&P/2, M16A4, AND M4 CARBINE. US MARINE CORPS TECHNICAL MANUAL SEMI-AUTO COMBAT SHOTGUN, BENELLI M1014/M4 OPERATIONS M249 LIGHT MACHINEGUN B3M4138. AK-47 Assault Rifle Operator's Manual. FM 23-65 - Browning Machine gun Caliber .50 HB, M2. MAC Submachine Gun Operating Manual. M240 SERIES 7.62 MM MACHINE GUNS U.S. MARINE CORPS TECHNICAL MANUAL, SNIPER RIFLE, 7.62 MM, M40A3, SNIPER RIFLE, 7.62 MM, M40A5 FIELD MANUAL NO. 3-23.25 (FM 23-25), LIGHT ANTIARMOR WEAPONS TM 43-0001-27 TECHNICAL AMMUNITION MANUAL

Their presence was one of the strangest things so far, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand what I was supposed to do with them. There would be a time and place to find that answer, but now wasn’t it. I already knew all about firearms, but Arturo was right—I knew approximately jack-all about being a Vigil. That was where I needed to start. The Divine Contract Log piqued my curiosity, so I slipped it from the shelves and cracked the pages. It was a big book with lots of blank paper.

Only the very first page had any writing on it. Two entries, one right after another.

Bounty Fulfilled

Dark Lair: You have slain the pack of Grave Ghouls who have defiled this nexus with their unclean presence. As a reward for a job well done, you have been granted an additional 150 Essence and 5 Ward Points.

Bounty

Terror of Ironmoor: A deadly Mortka with powerful abilities at its disposal prowls the streets of Ironmoor, a provincial trading hub in the province of Oakenward. Old hate drives the beast to kill, and only a Vigil Bound has the power to end its bloody reign. But this is no ordinary monster; its form and nature are cloaked by dark magics, its identity hidden behind false faces and guarded even from the eyes of Raguel, the Five Faced. Identify the nature of the beast, slay it before at least one witness, and restore justice and order to the city of Ironmoor.

Reward: +15,000 Essence, 1 x Seraphic Affinity Scale (Sage Class), 1 x Chaos Affinity Scale (Sage Class), 1 x True Form Transformation Token, 1 x Scalable Master-Rank Armor Item

Check. This was essentially a quest log that recorded past and current bounties.

I shoved the book back onto the shelf and swapped it out for A Vigil’s Bestiary. I always had been a sucker for a good monster manual, and I was interested to learn about the variety of threats this new world had to offer me. I sighed in disappointment as I quickly riffled through the pages. Like the Bounty Log, this one was mostly empty as well. Just a single entry for Crave Ghouls that offered a sketch of the creatures I’d fought and a quick description, listing out some basics. Physical description, where they could be encountered—caves and dens—any specific weakness—Ice-based magics—and their typical loot drops.

Looked like the Bestiary was less a book of monsters and more a medieval version of a Pokedex, but instead of trying to catch ’em all, I was trying to kill ’em all.

One of these damned books had to have something useful. I swapped the bestiary for the Grimoire of Virtues. I’d played enough DnD to know that grimoire was a fancy word for spell book. Inside was a table of contents, once more listing out the Five Wards and their accompanying abilities. Finally, I was making some progress. Book tucked beneath one arm, I trudged over to a padded reading chair nearby, plopped down, and propped the thick tome on the study desk. I flipped past the table of contents and paused on a brief explanation of what the “Wards” were and how they functioned.

A Note on Vigil Wards: There are Five Wards, each of which represent one of the Five Faces of Raguel: Justice (Gadriel), Valor (Voch), Wrath (Thuriel), Balance (Lero), and Truth (Akora). Each Ward contains spells that are in line with the given virtue or will help in the pursuit of said virtue, but since a Vigil is not a god—only a pale representative—no Vigil is capable of unlocking all of the magics offered by the gracious hand of Raguel. Vigils must choose carefully what type of warrior they will be and focus on those skills that will best suit them as they execute the assignments they are tasked with.

Ward Points can be used to unlock individual Vigil Wards abilities and skills—the more powerful the skill, the higher the cost. But a word of caution is in order here, along with a generous heaping of common sense. There are no restrictions or level caps on individual Vigil Wards. Should a Vigil have enough Ward Points, they can unlock any spell or ability of their choosing, but they should tread carefully. Using magics or abilities beyond one’s scope can have devastating effects.

If, for example, an overeager Vigil should unlock the Juggernaut Ability without having the appropriate reserve of both Brawn and Verve, they might use the ability only to break every bone in their body. Or, perhaps, an enterprising Vigil elects to unlock Soul Storm without first having Mind Vault and enough Insight—to do so is to risk madness from the eldritch power of the grave. In all things, let common sense prevail, lest you meet a most untimely and unfortunate end at your own hand.

Well now, that was ominous as hell. But instead of scaring me away it only made me more excited to learn my abilities. I launched onto the next pages and started eagerly reading about the Five Wards themselves.

Ward of Justice (Gadriel): The Ward of Justice focuses on skills of an active physical and martial nature. It is best for those Vigils who prefer to solve problems with the edge of a sword or at the end of a crossbow bolt. By investing in the Justice Ward, a Vigil can turn themselves into an unstoppable force of physical violence. Gain an unparalleled mastery over weapons and armor and use them to inflict crippling blows on those who would stand in the way of Justice. It requires 150 total Ward Points to unlock every skill within this Ward.

Ward of Valor (Voch): The Ward of Valor is cousin to the Ward of Justice. Whereas Justice is actively combat oriented, Valor imparts Vigils with impressive passive physical abilities. Comprised of three Bastions—The Protector, The Healer, The Presence—those who follow Valor’s path can fortify their own bodies, heal even the most grievous wounds, cast out disease in others, and amplify the powers of allied Vigils. It requires 188 total Ward Points to unlock every skill within this Ward.

Ward of Balance (Lero): Just as passive Valor is tied to active Justice, so too is gentle Balance the flip side of deadly Wrath. Whereas Wrath dishes out devastating damage and destruction on an unprecedented scale, Balance draws upon the power of nature to hold and bind and shape. Those who focus their eye upon the school of Bestial Magics specialize in assuming the shape of slain Mortka, using such ill-gotten power to right wrongs instead of causing them. Those aligned with the Fae Courts can draw upon the power of the Sidhe to aid them in their cause, while those who look to build and create often study Elemental Magics. It requires 158 total Ward Points to unlock every skill within this Ward.

Ward of Wrath (Thuriel): Those who follow the Ward of Wrath travel along the Path of Violence, the Path of Retribution, and the Path of Death to mete out Raguel’s Righteous Judgement. By cultivating Arcana and channeling the Essence of the divine, the Vigil can rend the earth, summon molten rocks from the heavens, and freeze their enemies where they stand. The Path of Violence specializes in dealing devastating damage to single targets.

The Path of Retribution, by contrast, deals substantial damage over an Area of Effect (AoE) and is ideal for large numbers of enemies or creatures with physical resistances. The Path of Death enslaves the wicked, forcing them to do penance for their ghastly crimes even into the afterlife. Damage is largely dealt at range, and this Ward is ideal for warriors that prefer to stay at a distance from their foes. It requires 210 total Ward Points to unlock every skill within this Ward.

Ward of Truth (Akora): The Vigilant are first and foremost Truth Seekers. Their calling is to ferret out evil in all its many guises and to pierce to the very heart of all things. The myriad of spells in the Ward of Truth aid in this pursuit, allowing the Vigil to extract information from the unwilling, speak to the inhuman, and reveal those secrets confined to the darkest shadows. Those who specialize in the College of Rhetoric have a certain way with words—charming, persuading, intimidating, and domineering those who oppose the Truth.

Distorting the Truth allows those in the College of Deception to twist perception, deceive the senses, pass unnoticed through a crowd, and even implant false memories. Those Vigils who pursue the College of Reason are dedicated to the exploration of both the Natural and Preternatural Sciences, crafting armor and weapons, employing arcane alchemy to brew powerful potions, and altering the fundamental properties of Essence to help right wrongs. Truth is the tool of the Investigator, and Akora helps you wield the Truth as the weapon it is. It requires 180 total Ward Points to unlock every skill within this Ward.