The next morning, Colin allocated his new attribute points that he’d gotten from his level. Quickly distributing two points into speed, one into strength, one into dexterity, and the last into wisdom. Speed and finesse was, and will always be his main form of physical combat, but strength would always hold a necessary need. Wisdom was his preference at every level simply because it worked with his Hubris ability and mana regeneration rate.

The moment he confirmed his Attributes, a shiver ran up and down his body as they took hold in his body. Muscles reformed, tightened, and adjusted per his freshly increased physical Attributes. Only a few seconds had passed when the irritating feeling passed and shivered one more time involuntarily at the wrongness of a body that shifted itself in accordance with an arbitrary numerical value.

Turning over in his bed, he found Rielle finally starting to stir herself, and turned away to start getting his shoes back on. He had a list of things to do today, which meant getting an early start to do them all. He was hoping to get the first of them done quickly and without having to say any-

“Uh, Walker? Did you get any prompts?” she murmured as she rubbed her face.

“No, not this morning. Why?” Colin queried.

“I got some experience this morning,” she stated. “My owner and party leader getting experience through special circumstances granted me a small portion of the experience. I got 150 EXP,” she said, confused.

Colin could feel her eyes on him as she tried to figure out what she wasn’t telling her, only to shake his head and stand up. He turned to face Rielle with a small smile on his face, “My apologies, Rielle. After you passed out last night, I went out and, you shall not mention this to another soul, I killed an Outworlder.”

Rielle sat flabbergasted, her conflicted emotions making her entire body still for a few long seconds.

“You… what?” she asked, blinking several times.

“I killed an Outworlder. I have an Ability that grants me a portion of the held experience from Outworlders I kill. My current leveling progress is too slow, so I am giving it a boost,” Colin told her frankly. He moved around the room, throwing on his jacket and tying his weapons onto his belt and double-checking them all.

“Outworlders can come back to life when killed, so the guy I killed last night will be back any time now, likely pissed but without a target for his rage. Rielle, I wouldn’t worry, if you are,” Colin said, trying to be soothing. “He didn’t see me, he was drunk, and the prompt shouldn’t have said who I was since he had no idea I killed him.”

“Are… are you going to do that again?” she asked, her voice small and a little quiet.

“Yes, tonight.”

Rielle nodded, doing her best not to look at Colin as she looked down on her clothes and sighed. “What do you expect me to do then? If you do this, I’m going to fall far behind you in level.”

“You’ll have to do some solo leveling then,” Colin grinned. “Unless Nox has another solution.”

A toilet flushed, and the sink turned on, and moments later, Nox stepped out of the bathroom. He was drying his hands with a towel when he noticed both of his roommates were looking at him. “What?”

Neither knew what to comment about the Goblin using the bathroom and being polite enough to watch his hands, so Colin ignored it. “We were discussing my little escapade last night, where I killed an Outworlder.”

“So you did decide to tell her. I was sure you wouldn’t tell her, given that she’s a bit... “Nox grinned viciously at her as he said the next word. “Delicate.”

“Wha-” she said, words not coming out. “I am not delicate!” she told him, face flushing a little as she voiced her disapproval.

“Of course you aren’t, I must have misspoken,” Nox nodded. “I thought there was only us here, and I used a female pronoun, but I must be wrong. My deepest and sincerest apologies for my mistake.”

Before Rielle could respond, Colin continued, “I told her after discovering that she got a little of the experience I got from the kill. She’s concerned about falling behind in character level.”

The Goblin nodded in understanding, “I see, I see. Well, there are a few solutions to this. There’s a soulbound item that will siphon a percentage of experience gained and channel them to the wearer.”

“Maybe,” Colin said, rubbing his chin. “What else?”

“She could do a lot of solo combat. It’s certainly riskier, but it will give her the needed EXP to get stronger. Couple it with what little experience points she gets from when you kill an Outworlder. It might make her formidable quickly,” Nox stated. Then added when more when he didn’t see Colin’s considering look, “I can go with her to make sure she stays alive, maybe give some pointers. One Rogue to another.”

“Better,” Colin admitted, liking that one a lot more now. “Is there anything else?”

“You’re just going to keep asking that until I give you an idea you love, or I give up and tell you to fuck off, right?” Nox asked, his eyes glaring at Colin.

“I think you are starting to know me pretty well, Nox,” Colin toasted, raising a glass of water in his short friend’s direction and drinking it.

“Well, let’s try this one on for size. There are a few skills that can grant passive experience under specific circumstances. Yggdrasil Growth gives a trickle of EXP when touching a living White Ash tree and in direct sunlight. Universal Channel gives free experience when one is actively meditating and opens themselves up to it. Masochists Experience gives extra experience whenever you deal damage to yourself,” Nox stated, obviously a little annoyed. “Would you like some more? There are more.”

“No, that’s alright,” Colin said, thinking through the few options he’d been presented. He didn’t particularly like any of those skills given to him, since the requirements were so specific. The best choice was a bit obvious, so Colin told Nox. “Would you be willing to work with Rielle to help her gain some experience, and we get her that, uh, experience share item.”

“Sounds like a good way to expedite her level,” Nox stated.

“How does that sound, Rielle,” Colin asked, turning to face her a little more straight on.

She looked away from Colin with the sudden and direct attention, “w-whatever you think is best, Walker.”

Shaking his head, Colin took a step closer to her, “Rielle. Do you have a problem with what I proposed for your leveling, at least until level ten?”

“Why level 10?” she asked.

“When you get your subclass, your chances of survival will increase. What level are you right now?” he asked, not remembering if she’d even said her exact level.

“Level seven.”

“Great, then this will not take very long if we are diligent,” Colin stated. “Right, Nox?”

The Goblin nodded in agreement, “the first ten levels are fairly quick if you know what you’re doing. I do,” he told them.

“Then why didn’t you do that for me?” Colin asked pointedly.

Nox grin grew wider, “you didn’t ask.”

Accepting this as something he couldn’t help, Colin moved on. “Then you will take Rielle and have her buy anything you think she’ll need,” he said, removed a few of his remaining Copper Coins from his pocket. “Within reason, right?”

“Can you really put a price on someone’s life, DevilWalker?” Nox asked cheekily.

“I can,” Colin said, handing Rielle the money. “And I will pay what I need for you to make sure she doesn’t die. Got it?”

Nox nodded and stepped forward to Rielle’s shadow and stepped inside. She looked down into it for a moment before looking back up at Colin, “he wants me to tell you that you should be careful since he won’t be around.”

“Why can’t I hear him?”

Rielle paused for long seconds before speaking again, “he said that it’s a quirk of people’s shadows. The person whose shadow he’s in can hear him all the time, but he has to make a conscious effort to have anyone else hear him. Doing this… mean that everyone in earshot can hear him.”

“Then why didn’t he just talk to me?”

“I don’t know, he’s only laughing in the shadow,” Rielle said, then looked down at the shadow underneath her and back at Colin, “he’s saying it’s time to go- What? I don’t wanna go there!”

“Where?” he asked curiously.

“Into the sewers. I, Ewww, don’t want to go there. It’s all smelly, gross, and there will be rats everywhere,” Rielle complained, looking ready to say more against the idea. She then froze and looked wide-eyed at her shadow, “really? Well, alright, what are we waiting for?”

“What did he tell you?” Colin called to Rielle’s fleeing back.

She paused, her ingrained instincts telling her to stop and answer her owner. But Colin’s nonchalance and casual nature towards their connection made her want to reciprocate the attitude. At the end of a short internal debate, She looked at Colin with a smile and asked, “can I make it a surprise and tell you if it works out?”

Seeing no reason to not agree with it, Colin indeed, “just be careful.”

She nodded and hurried out the door.

For himself, Colin headed out the door and locked the door behind him. He climbed down the stairs and sidestepped a few people who were leaving their rooms as well. A few could have been Outworlder’s, but since it was morning, they could be people from the game about to go on their jobs as Monster Hunters or tax attorneys.

He made his way to the front desk, where Georgia Bernz said a letter would be waiting for him to deliver. He was hailed by a clerk behind the front counter as soon as he was noticed, “Mister Walker, Sir! I have a few things for you!”

Colin finished the approach and smiled pleasantly at the young man, whose clothing consisted of a deep green button-down shirt, black vest, and slacks. A silver tag bearing the name Caleb confirmed that Colin had met him before, “what have you got for me?”

“A few things actually, sir,” He reached under the counter that he was standing behind and hand out a thick looking manilla envelope. First is an Envelope from a G.B. for you.”

Colin took it, looked at the front, and it, indeed, had his name written upon it. He carefully put it inside the mundane backpack he was wearing and nodded at the man to continue.

“Second and last, I have two other letters from a woman named Henrietta,” He handed both intricately folded pieces of colored paper to Colin. The latter promptly repeated the procedure as the manilla envelope. He could read them as soon as he was a little more away from prying eyes.

“That is everything I have for you,” Caleb said, flashing Colin a smile. “Is there anything I can do for you, Mister Walker?”

“No, but thank you,” Colin told the young man, producing a few Copper Bits from his pocket. It wasn’t much, but it was something of a tip. He placed the half dozen octagonal pieces of copper on the counter and walked away.

He considered going up to his room to read the letters, but the idea was daunting since he’d just gotten down here. Old senses and habits overrode this sentiment. Colin walked back up the stairs to his room, where the wards and defenses would keep anyone from overhearing.

He withdrew the three items and first pulled the Manilla Envelope and freed the contents. Four things were inside the envelope. The first thing was another envelope made of a moss green paper, underneath it was another note on top of a black leather pouch. He read the message on the small open page and sighed. It only had two words written on it in an incredibly fancy flowing script.

The Fee

He set the note down on the bed and opened the pouch into his open hand. What fell out was a large copper coin covered in green, gritty, pale-green rust about two inches across. Imprinted on the Coin, visible through the rust, was a rune that Colin didn’t know. On the reverse side, an intricately carved piece of art showed a woman standing something that went up to mid-thigh. Just below, half-a-dozen tendrils or tentacles erupted from beneath her, each with a snarling wolf-like head at their ends.

The Coin made the hair on the back of Colin’s neck stand on end, and he couldn’t blame it. This singular piece of currency felt like it radiated a sense of… wrongness. If felt like staring at something you were afraid of as a child, in the sense that something about it simply made you nervous, on edge, or just creeped out.

He slipped the coun back into its pouch, and the wrongness faded to a more manageable level. He put both the letter he was supposed to deliver and the pouch back in his pack and proceeded to the next note.

He unfolded the paper and found that the letter was written directly on the paper itself.

~Walker, This letter is to inform you that we have completed the reconnaissance of the Church of Anaheim and have discovered the location of the Demon you are seeking. It is in sub-level three of the southern chapel and is under enough wards, spiritual, magical, and physical, to make it difficult to get close. Our informant tells us that, directly underneath the Demon’s cage, there is a religious item of some sort powering the spiritual and magical wards. They say that to free the Demon, you will need to deactivate the item first. Even then, it will be immediately detected when it leaves its containment due to the passive wards all churches possess.

I, personally, highly recommend against going in and doing this, but I doubt you’ll listen to reason.

Thank you for your patronage, and contact us again if you have something easier for us to do.

A quiet groan escaped him as he finished. Finally, he’d gotten the information he needed to move in on the first favor he owed the Demons, and it’s not a lot. At least what he did have gave him enough to move with, if he so chose. He had a rough location, he had some idea of what was keeping it trapped, and was even warned of a detection system that would screw him otherwise.

Opening the other letter, Colin’s grin got wider as he looked it over.

~Orders for: Volkiere, Mage/ mage

Your presence is requested, and recommended, at the city of BriarThorn,(A Teleport may be requested in this instance for ease of transport) for an unknown duration. We will assign a replacement for your place in MonterayRevial’s party until such a time that the below-mentioned task is complete.

In a mine south by south-west of BriarThorn, we have discovered a large vein of silver ore, along with smaller veins of other metals. Gold, platinum, cobalt, and even a small amount of wolframite has been discovered. Unfortunately, we need an Aeromage with a well developed Air magic Manipulation Skill to remove toxic air from other parts of the mine or create filters for our mining groups and warriors to work with.

Please reply as soon as you can to the nearest Guild Hall to inform me of your willingness to help. We offer fifty Copper Coins for your services and an open offer of assistance at a future date from a high-level player when you ask for one. This is you complete the job or complete your part to the satisfaction of Operation Leader Sir Punchesalot.

Signed, Region Chief of Operations for the Krimson Spire GUild

Henelocke

“Fuck, yes!” Colin announced out loud. His grin was widely set upon his face, and joy made his heart flutter. He knew what that fucking quiet Aeromancer was doing here, and now he even knew where to find him. Death would come swiftly for the mage, but Colin would have to act soon.

For today, Colin had things to do and plans to make for his future activities. He planned on getting the letter delivery done today and hopefully quickly. Still, he had a secondary objective with that, so if it took longer, that was okay. With that in mind, Colin took both letters from Henrietta and put those in his pocket.

Walking back down the stairs, he had a spring in his step that was not there moments ago. His purpose in the game now was taking a giant step forward, and he was ready to see it progress in the right direction. His revenge here was only beginning. Colin just needed to decide how he wanted to kill Volkiere for maximum effect.

Retrieving the Cult’s letter, Colin looked at the address clearly written on the front of the message and memorized it before putting back. He left the hotel and walked a short way down the road looking for someone to ask directions. Then he noticed a young man in a clay-colored, knee-length tunic, a rope tied like a belt around his waist. A bandana was tied around his right bicep, a black lotus symbol painted on-off white fabric. He was selling glass trinkets, mostly figurines that looked like fantastic creatures, all of them laying in poses of contented sleep.

The young man noticed Colin approaching and smiled widely, “Hello, sir. May I interest you in glass ornament? You may select one for free if you promise to read this.” He said, reaching behind him for a folded piece of paper that bore the same symbol as the bandana on his bicep.

“What is it?” Colin asked, reaching for the paper.

“Oh, have you never heard of us? I am an appointed proselytizer for the Way of the Black Lotus. I am happy to be spreading the word of our Leader, Somnosis. She’s the bringer of the way that culminates into the ultimate peace,” he explained unprompted.

Colin shook his head, “No, I haven’t, but I will read this pamphlet in exchange for some directions,” Colin proposed.

“Do you promise?” the man asked, his voice leading.

He knew where this was going, and honestly, it was an easy promise to keep. “Yes, I promise to read the pamphlet.”

A promise has been made.

“Thank you,” he said, passing Colin the pamphlet. “Would you also like one of these miniature sculptures? Free of charge for taking one of the pamphlets.” He assured Colin, gesturing to the table of beautiful small statues.

In his head, Colin wasn’t as interested in the figurines, just the information he wanted. Still, at the same time, they were quite beautiful. He looked through them, finding figures of different types of dragons, Pegasi, giant squid, mermaids. Even one that he was reasonably sure was a phoenix. Each had glowing lights within that reflected what colors these creatures would have had in real-life, making each look ethereal.

Colin chose one of the dragons, a red and black dragon that looked sinister as he suspected one might look in real life. He slid it carefully into his Dimensional bag, knowing that nothing else he’d put in there had broken, and if it did, oh well. He reclosed the bag and looked at the young man before him.

“I hope you enjoy that figure; it was one of my favorites. Now, you were looking for directions?” he asked.

Colin nodded and told him where he was going.

“Oh, that’s easy enough. That is in the northern part of the city, just follow the central street leading to the northern gate, hang a right at Wilson’s Apothecary, and head straight. It should be over there somewhere,” he instructed, Colin carefully remembering what the young man said.

“Thank you,” Colin said, taking a few Copper Bits out of his pocket and putting them in the young man’s hand. “I really appreciate it.”

His smile was wide as he nodded, “You are most welcome.”

And Colin left him at his stall, he noted that the money was discreetly slid into a pocket within his sleeve. But otherwise, the young man went back to work, trying to spread the word of his group, this Path of the Black Lotus. For some reason, the idea of this style of tunic and lotuses rang a bell deep in his memory. Something about Lotus-Eaters or drug-laced flowers, gah, he really wished he’d paid more attention to myths and legends back home. McKenna would have had a field-month, not day, month if he’d told her he wanted to learn more about that subject.

Oh well, it would either come back to him, or it wouldn’t. Either way, he’d gotten what he wanted, and he went along his way. The directions were clear, and he passed the clearly marked Apothecary shop and entered the side streets. Going straight as instructed until a one-story townhouse marked 1313 Mockingbird lane, that didn’t look anything like a Cult’s headquarters.

If anything, the yellow and white one-story townhouse looked downright cute compared to the twisted house of horrors he was expecting. The house was even in a small upper-middle-class section of the city that was allowed to have yards, which allowed it to have… yup, a white picket fence.

Shrugging, no guards or loiters made themselves apparent, but that could simply be due to his low Perception Skill level. He opened the fence gate and walked up to the front porch, doing his best to project a sense of non-aggression. Cults on Earth had the tendency to be a bit jumpy.

He stepped under the porch and had his hand raised up to the door when something felt off. He looked at his feet and knew there was an issue with the way his balance felt slightly off. He shifted his weight and felt it again; this time, he was sure of what he was feeling, even if it was extremely subtle.

Perception Check: success! You have found a Pitfall Trap. Your Perception skill is now level 4. The passive and active bonuses to your senses have increased.

He quickly jumped back and off the trap, and was relieved when his balance felt normal again. Considering how to proceed from here, Colin shrugged and took the Drenching Dagger off his belt. He used Frost Shaping to manipulate a few ice balls off the wet Dagger’s surface before putting it back. Gently, he tossed them at the door, one after another, to get their attention.

A moment later, a woman who must have been in her earlier forties opened the door. The view showing off her comfortable-looking olive dress and long auburn hair that matched it. She looked quizzically at Colin, who was a few feet away from the door, and cocked her head, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I am here to deliver a letter,” He said, removing the distinctively colored envelope from his pack and holding it up for her to see.

“I’m sorry, but who are you? That really doesn’t help,” she said, though her gaze flicked back to the green square in Colin’s hand.

“I also have this,” Colin said, withdrawing the pouch and pulling the Coin free. The same eerie feeling crawled over his skin, but he could live with it. He tried to make sure she could see the Coin but no one else, and really he had no way to know if anyone else did.

Her expression subtly changed from a busy housewife to a suspicious housewife. She glared at the man holding both items and asked, “Oh, who are you here to see exactly? Maybe I can help.”

“A Mister Fahtagin,” Colin told her, playing along with her ruse. She had to be doing this for other people’s benefit since it was apparent now, at least, that he knew what was going on here. He slid the items into his pant’s pocket, out of sight as she spoke up again.

“Oh him!” she said, humor in her voice. “I’m sorry, he’s not here right now, but I can deliver the letter if you’d like.”

Colin shook his head, “I’m sorry. I was told to deliver this to him personally. Is there any way I can wait for him inside?” he asked, channeling his non-existent vacuum-cleaner salesman. Instant but not too obnoxious, he hoped.

“Of course,” she said, gesturing him forward.

Wary of the trap, Colin said, “you aren’t going to use your, ahem, security system there on me, will you?” he asked, pointing to the porches floor.

She squinted at him in annoyance but shook her head, “why would I do that?” her words were playful, but the eyes were cold.

Trusting her about as far as he could throw her, Colin hurried past the trap and stepped inside the ordinary-looking house. The entranceway was as he expected, unassuming. It was just a room with some comfortable couches facing a red brick fireplace, full bookshelves on the wall, and a coffee table in the middle of it all. From his vantage point, he could clearly see the immaculately clean kitchen entrance and hall that led immediately to a bathroom and curved off towards other rooms.

She closed the door behind him, and a knife appeared in her hand so fast that it might as well have materialized there. She attempted to grab Colin, mostly likely to push him into the wall and threaten him with the knife. She did not expect his reflexes to be ready for her.

Colin activated Kinetic Vigor and grabbed the wrist of the arm that tried to get him. He twisted, using as much of his weight and leverage as possible to move her, her strength score must have been several points higher than his. He then flowed his movement into a shove that pushed her torso against the wall and added pressure against her elbow and shoulder to keep her there. The Dagger wielding arm still tried to get at him, but she realized quickly that there was no way for her to get him.

“What the fuck do you want?” she snarled through the pain lancing through her arm.

“I told you what I want,” Colin told her through gritted teeth, “to deliver this gods-damned letter to Speaker Fahtagin,” Colin told her. He increased the pressure he was putting on her joints a little to keep her against the wall; she was still trying to resist.

“Well, fuck you,” She snarled, flexing as she again tried to muscle her way free from Colin’s hold.

“Stop struggling,” Colin growled, drawing the Drenching Dagger and pressing the tip into the small of her back. She stopped actively struggling, though Colin felt her strain against his hold, that was fine as long as she stopped trying to buck him off. “I was told to deliver a letter to the Speaker. I was given a coin that was supposed to pay a fucking toll to get me inside, now what did I do wrong!”

“Who sent you?” she growled through clenched teeth.

Then Colin blinked. He actually had no idea if her name was known to these people or if Georgia Bernz was a persona of some kind. Damn his low wisdom score, on Earth, he would have remembered to ask that. So Colin improvised, “the leader of a nameless thieves group.”

The struggling ceased almost immediately. Her breathing began to equalize as the idea that this man was a welcomed guest sunk in further. “Alright, you can let me go now.”

Colin released her and stepped back out of her reach in case it was some kind of ploy. It wasn’t, and the woman straightened out the lines of her dress as she tried to return her state of clothing to its former look. She slid the Dagger back into a sheath that was cleverly blended into the folds of her dress. Even knowing where it was, Colin found it had to see even a bulge.

“What’s your name?” she asked, rolling the arm and flexing the joints that Colin had locked in place.

“Walker,” he answered, putting away his own Dagger. “So, where is the Speaker?”

“In our stronghold. May I see that Coin again?” she asked, holding out her hand, palm up.

He withdrew the Coin from his pocket and set it in her waiting hand. She looked it over closely and widened her eyes, “Hallowed Scylla, this is real.”

Colin rolled his eyes; this world had too many beings to believe in. Earth was a little simpler in that regard. Most only said, oh my God.

“So, can I go to this stronghold and see him? I do need to deliver this to him personally,” Colin asked, patting the pocket that she’d seen him put the letter.

She seemed to think it over for a moment, “let me call this in and ask.”

True to her word, she reached into another part of her dress and produced another phone, almost identical to his own, and dialed an eleven-digit number? Weird.

“Yeah, Norris? This is Sinna. Is the Speaker busy? I need to ask him a question.” she said into the phone. “I can wait,” she nodded and turned away from Colin, pacing to wait patiently. Long moments passed with her ear to the receiver, and then her attention perked up as whoever Norris was started talking. “Good, thank you. Good day, Speaker Fahtagin; I’ve got an… interesting visitor here at the house. He brought one of Scylla’s coins and everything. Uh-huh, says he was sent by that thieves group you contracted. Brought a letter to give to you. No, says it has to be hand-delivered to you.” A few seconds passed, and she nodded once to the phone, “yes, Speaker. I will send him right down, thank you, sir.”

Sinna hung up the phone, put it away, and took a deep breath before turning to Colin, “So that was a yes. On the condition that you swear to me now that you will never speak of this location to anyone,” she stated, glaring at him as if daring him to argue.

Instead, he found it reasonable, just with a slight twist. “I swear that I will never tell anyone where the Cult of Scylla’s location is,” Colin intoned.

There was a pregnant pause as she stared at Colin as if sensing a deception but unable to find it.

You have been sworn to secrecy.

“Alright, come along,” Sinna instructed, leading him to the bathroom.

She walked in and pulled back a curtain to reveal a disproportionately huge tub compared to the room’s size. It looked reasonably big enough for half a dozen people to bathe in there at the same time if they wanted. There was a thin layer of crystal clear water at the bottom, and she pointed to it, “step in.”

“What’s going to happen?” Colin asked, taking caution before trusting a woman who attacked him.

“It’s oh, just get in or you are not going,” Sinna said, giving him a ‘see if I am joking look’.

Deciding that, out of the few choices he had here, obeying her was the best choice. He stepped inside and was glad that the water layer in the bottom wasn’t seeping into his shoes.

That was until she turned on the faucet and more water started pouring out.

She then reached under the rim of the tub and started to touch specific spots. Colin did his best to try and memorize the places, but he knew it was probably pointless since he couldn’t see what she was touching.

With a sense of finality, she touched one last spot, and the water in the tub started to creep unnaturally up his body. Layering him after only a few seconds, in a cocoon of clear, rippling water.

A moment passed where Colin knew he’d been tricked, and his eyes kept on hers as his attempt to move failed. Her flinch at the rage in them made him frown as his perspective moved downward until he was looking up into her face. It took him a moment to realize that he was sinking into the tub and losing the feeling in every part of his body that he knew was phased through.

Moments passed, and he lost sight of Senna; his vision gone entirely black, but his awareness remained, unlike when he died.

Then all at once, his senses returned, and he immediately went for the Mythic Xiphos at his belt, an angry roar escaping him. Surprised men in hooded robes moved away from him in fear as Colin’s eyes roamed for threats. He kept the blade up but observed his surroundings, finding himself in a damp, stalagmite ridden cave with water drops and thin streams of water as a constant backdrop.

“What the fuck was that?!” Colin called out, igniting his blade with Aligned Strike, ready to smite the first person who got too close.

“Let me guess, Sinna didn’t tell you what would happen?” a smooth, calm man said, pulling back his hood. The man looked unremarkable and easily forgettable with his bland features—all except his bald head that reflected the magical lights that were embedded into the walls.

Colin nodded, “What the fuck?”

He shook his head, “I apologize, Mister Walker. She has little patience for explaining these things. I am Norris; welcome to our BriarThorn chapter of the Scylla Cult. But, please put away the sword, or I will have to thrash you,” he said, his tone going from apologetic to sincere in his warning.