Barik

Eslet, Underground Magical Development Centre

Soren stood to the side of the massive warehouse/cavern, looking through a glass window from inside a separate room inside the large laboratory.

Outside the office several dozen mages of differentiating race were gathered in groups. Some using their magic to form the armor for the Griffins using several of the creatures that were brought in for size comparison. Other groups were on the opposite side of the warehouse, working with Golemancers to get the right shape, size and material balance for creating the Mageks before them.

The last group were simple soldiers or hired citizens that would take the finished armor parts and or Mageks then carry them to a larger storage location.

Glancing behind him he watched Death go through several stacks of paperwork, reports from each development team under their care.

Soren sighed “They coming or what?” Birse had re-contacted them minutes ago after the first report in, telling him to expect Kyle and a few others to arrive via rift.

“They’re probably still looking for a Devil available to transport them.” responded Death who’s nose remained glued to the papers.

When suddenly a rift tore open ahead of his desk, making him jump and drop a whole stack of papers “Sh-That gets me every damn time.” He swore loudly before catching himself.

“Well speak of the Devil.” Said Soren as he watched Kyle, Lilior and Karnage step out of the rift “What’s up? Heard you got a plan.” The Dwarf was strangely calm even with the current circumstances.

Kyle glanced at Death picking up the papers from the floor then at Soren “Sort of, wanna see the Spirit Realm?”

“Will I actually get to see it this time?” Soren asked jokingly as he wore a wide grin.

“I can go there without hijacking your position this time…” mumbled out Karnage apologetically.

“That’s reassuring, now if you don’t mind telling…what IS the plan?” asked Death as he stood up with a pile of papers.

“Not much time so I’ll keep it short.” said Kyle as the rift behind them closed “As a Spirit Beast me and Soren are able to enter the Spirit Realm without being dead, Lilior will be able to follow because she is my familiar and Karnage…well she can follow too.”

“How does that help us exactly?” then asked Soren.

“Because the Spirit Realm.” Continued to explain Kyle “Is on a parallel plane to the world of the living, if we enter it from here we end up at a specific location and similarly vice-versa. The only problem is that unlike back home where the Spirit Realm is an empty plane looking over the real world. Chaoz’s is quite full, with its own geography.”

“So you’re going to shoot blindly through rifts until you pop out on Il’tel?” asked Death with a raised brow.

Kyle shook his head “No we’ll get directions from a local, anyway we should hurry. Are you ready?”

Soren sighed as he glanced over at Karnage “Last question, is she going to be a liability?”

“Me?” Karnage asked caught by surprise.

Kyle sighed as well then glanced back at her “He means…we might have to actually take lives. Are you mentally prepared for that? To us…people like us have seen or done worse but…Tell us now if it’s going to be a problem.”

“Is it going to be a problem?” added Soren.

Karnage glanced between all four of them, unsure as how to answer that question “I…I don’t…”

“She’s out.” plainly said Soren “I’m not risking my hide if she’s not ready.”

Kyle nodded solemnly “Just us three can stil-”

“I can do it…” said Karnage cutting him off “If it means stopping a war…I’ll do it.”

Soren snorted in amusement “Somehow I don’t see that state of mind working out very well.”

“Agreed.” Mumbled out Lilior from between Kyle’s ears, the Fae staring down at Karnage with curiosity.

Kyle turned to Karnage, grabbing her by the shoulders “You don’t need to come, we’ll be fine even without you. I’m sorry I brought you into this in the first place…I should of thought of it beforehand.” (“I didn’t even think to ask something like that…Damnit what’s wrong with me?”)

Karnage could only stare at the empty space between them as she nodded “I’m sorry…” she clenched her sword’s hilts, annoyed at herself.

“You don’t have anything to apologies for, it was my mistake.” He pulled her in, holding her tightly within his arms as she briefly held him back.

“You should go…” she then told him, her voice muffled by his coat. Gently pulling away, she barely looked at him while stepping back.

“I’ll be back.” He told her before letting go and turning around “Ready now?” he asked Soren.

“Sure.” The Dwarf grunted.

Kyle stepped away from everyone, morphing his fingers into long sharp claws. He looked out at the space ahead of him before suddenly swiping forward, Spirit engulfing his claw. Reality tore like a fabric, spreading apart and opening into a flowing rift of colors.

“This way.” Kyle told Soren as he himself stepped through.

Briefly Kyle saw a view that paused his breathing, he found himself standing over a tall mountain of snow. Looking down he saw vast forests covered in the same snow, before suddenly his vision changed and he was standing at the top of Kori’. Right in front of the library’s entrance, glancing to his side he saw a baffled Soren.

“What was…that?” Soren asked as he scratched his thin beard.

“Probably Tempres, what Barik use to look like. The Spirit Realm here seems to have its geography severed into many different eras of Chaoz.” Kyle explained as he stepped into the library, several individuals were already standing around the pool of liquid waiting for them “Technically we are at Hasharr at the moment.”

Soren followed as both him and Lilior glanced around the massive library in awe.

“Welcome child of the Fae, welcome child of the Spirits.” Greeting Terrance who stood at the center of the founders, he looked directly at Kyle “Back so soon young Soultail?”

“I’m afraid so, although I believe you already know exactly why.” said Kyle with a respectful tone.

“Hmm indeed I do…Ah welcome back to you too child of witchery.” Suddenly said Terrance with a smirk as he glanced behind them.

Kyle and Soren turned around to find Karnage standing there, determination in her eyes as she stepped to stand beside Kyle “Thank you.” she responded to Terrance before glancing up at Kyle who now wore a worried expression “I won’t get in your way…” she whispered to him.

Kyle continued to stare at her briefly but coming up with nothing to say he returned to Terrance “We need your help.”

“And we know what you require, yet the question is should we tell you?” said Terrance as he glanced over at the other founders “You are the last of our bloodline, the last of our great people. The Empire is a dangerous foe, their Champions are like nothing you’ve ever faced before. If we show you what you wish to see, you might very well die. Destroying what we’ve worked hard to keep alive.”

Kyle was afraid of this response, yet he was prepared for it “I’ve worked too damn hard to keep this world together as well. Everything I do, ever step and action I take, every word I say is for the sole purpose of my hope…of our hope to live in a world where we actually we feel like we belong!”

Kyle stepped forward, approaching the edge of the pool “Mark my words, if Chaoz falls…If this world is ruined…” His expression turned colder, his eyes barren of emotion as he spoke…”I will force myself into becoming a Nogitsune. And just like Void, I will devour this realm and make it my own.”

Terrance suddenly appeared standing before Kyle, each staring coldly into the other’s blind eyes “You would abandon your own beliefs, become the creature you hate so much so? You would disgrace our legacy, throw away your bloodline? All for some silly dream? All for some sense of belonging?” his voice was imbued with power, his tone harsh and commanding.

“Barely alive or even as an abomination, myself or not. Even if it means selling my soul…I have found where I belong, I have found the place I’ve been longing for and I’ll be damned if my past and fears will hold me back any longer.” Responded Kyle, his voice quaking the air, his tone a chilling breeze.

Terrance closed his eyes and sighed “Your Spirit grows more powerful by the hour, I was almost convinced.” He looked up at Kyle once more “I see what you’re planning boy, I know what you intend to do…”

“Do you not approve?” Asked Kyle, his expression still cold and distant.

“Approve?...When has a child ever needed an adult’s approval to do something foolish?” Terrance sighed once more, a smile on his face “But yes…” which widened into a full out maddened-grin “Of this I fully approve.”

IL’TEL

Elven Citadel of Fei’tel

3 Hours later.

Grandiose barely begins to depict the Elven Citadel, Fei’tel a mixture of nature’s beauty working in tandem with Elven construction. Built into a wide waterfall the city hung off a cliff’s wall as water from the fall landed inside well calculated pools that would spread out into rivers that ran across the entire city.

The buildings were of a glistening blue stone shaped smoothly and made to be thin yet tall, giving the entire area a graceful sense that worked alongside the well-cared for and accurately grown greenery. Trees perfectly grown on either side of the flowing rivers, vines grown around the buildings into perfect designs of house-hold insignias or banners. Patches of flowers perfectly aligned with the trees, buildings and rivers.

Fei’tel stood for everything the Elven race believed in, as a declaration for what they stood for. The same words that were inscribed in Elven runes into the citadel’s main four buildings. The smaller three representing the three courts of Forest, Tundra and Night. Each one standing high above the others at the East, West and South of the city.

The fourth building, the Elder’s Hall stood higher than even them. Built directly out of the waterfall’s slanted wall it rose three times as high as the courts. Inscribed into each of the four was the same phrase, yet as Kyle stared up at the runes he realized he couldn’t read Elven.

Terrance had shown them to an area within the Spirit Realm, told them they would appear in a safe area nobody went to. There Lilior had set up her Dungeon, Soren and Karnage waited there with her while Kyle roamed the city.

He wasn’t himself of course, his ears and tails alone would attract too much attention. So instead he masked himself, with a skill he quickly learned from Lilior that matched his [{Lord of Slimes}] class. An ability much more powerful than his (Illusionary) Slime, which any powerful mage could clearly see through and unlike Esfelt who’s mages stood as a separate faction from the main military…

The Empire’s military were mages themselves.

So Kyle made use of this skill instead, to not only hide his form but change it altogether.

[Shapeshift] (Set skill stats): Your class [{Lord of Slime}]’s capability to change any part of your body at will, mana is required to create, add to and alter your form. 0.06 mana per 1 ml of (Slime)

Right now, Kyle was a tall Tundra Elf with pale white skin, short light blue hair and silver eyes. His body being half-elf already, his hair being white and his eyes silver made it much easier to take this form than otherwise looking completely different.

Yet there was a problem with the [Shapeshift] ability, inspecting a shapeshifter would give you information depending on your mana level against your target. If the mage inspecting Kyle had more mana, they would gain the real information and not what Kyle had set his appearance to give.

Which is why he still made use of his (Illusionary) Slime, masking his Inspected information solely. Albeit the slime type having the same down-side to physical illusions, this was not true for Inspected illusions because it was much easier to create and was somehow assisted by the masking system.

This gave Kyle the perfect disguise, allowing him to fit in and listen in on conversations between the city’s residents without looking conspicuous. But albeit all this, the information he’d gathered was a minimum. Gossip and knowledge of the base citizenship just wasn’t enough to piece it all together and he was running out of time.

And when you’re running out of time, risks need to be taken.

Which was why he was currently standing in front of the Elders Hall, more precisely across the bridge casually glancing at it as he faked to be inspecting a magic utility store. And Kyle planned to infiltrate it, as apparently the Elders would be having a discussion this evening. Birse had expected the Elven Court navy to reach Barik within 12 hours, that was 3 hours ago.

The Elders would gather in 2 hours, this gave Kyle that much time to infiltrate the hall and 7 hours remaining.

Currently he was watching security outside the hall while sensing the inside. Outside he saw eight guards at the bridge and twelve at the entrance. Each guard wore a black cloth uniform with golden trim and over it a crimson red plated vest. In their hands were long pole-blade like staffs with a magic crystal embedded into the blade’s centre, buckled to their waist was a sheathed long curved blade and large gauntlet like leather glove inscribed with runes.

Alongside the guards, even the ones patrolling the streets Kyle noticed a creature accompanying them. Spiky scaled with long snouts the creatures closely resembled a Drake, even their long serpentine tail and wings but unlike a Drake they were barely larger than a common horse and had no legs or limbs other than their wings.

Kyle inspected two guards, one riding the creature, one not and then the creature itself.

Fei’tel Guard [Teo Khan] Level 146 Fei’tel Seeker Guard [Drow Vel] Level 163 {Dragon} Juvenile Tundra Wyrm [Ketala] (Fei’tel City Guard) Level 182

Unlike the massive Drakes the Tundra Wyrm resembled more a Wyvern in size without their ferocious behaviour, yet Kyle couldn’t help but notice the Juvenile in its name making him wonder what a full adult looked like.

Kyle counted four Wyrms standing guard outside the Elders Hall, they hadn’t noticed him yet but ever since seeing his first patrol he had made sure not to get too close. He was familiar with a Dragon’s senses, he didn’t know whether a Wyrm would compare to a Drake but he also didn’t want to find out.

Inside he sensed several issues, his [Spirit Detection] now [Spirit Master] was the only ability he could use that sensed anything at all within. Kyle was sure barriers invisible to him had been put up to evade even his [Draconic Perception], eluding all sound and even smell. He was relieved when Spirit detection still worked.

Within the Elders Hall itself he sensed ten guards patrolling each floor, all but the one floor below ground where he sensed twenty. He did not count the souls he sensed not moving or barely doing so for two reasons, the first was that each guard had a similar Spirit reading. Calm and attentive, as a guard was trained to be.

The second, was that Kyle could clearly see no guards standing around inside the building. Through the massive open gate he could see most of the first floor and each guard inside was patrolling, constantly moving around. Even through the windows on the floors above he couldn’t see a single guard standing at attention, only guards patrolling in groups of two.

This made it easier for Kyle to determine which soul was or wasn’t a guard.

He watched for several minutes following the paths each group of guards took, building a mental outline of the building’s inner design. Which was oval with two long main corridors curving from north to south until they met and one straight corridor cutting through west to east.

With this design and the guard’s patrolling paths it was impossible for Kyle to sneak in without being seen by at least one set of guards. He couldn’t afford to use magic as if the Empire could block detection then he was fairly sure they had even better methods of detection. The only reason he figured they hadn’t noticed him yet was because not only had he shape-shifted into an Elf while being Half-elf but he was also covering himself in a thin veil of Spirit which had resulted in a new active skill being created.

[Spirit Veil] (Set skills stats): Masks the user from magical detection but severely increases the possibility of spiritual detection.

Detection range: 2 meters

Spirit cost: 40

He guessed the Empire didn’t consider a Spirit Beast would be infiltrating them, if they even knew what Spirit Beasts could fully do.

Kyle considered his options as he moved on from the storefront, having stood around for long enough he entered the store itself and began perusing the inside. The shopkeeper greeted him and he nodded to the Wood Elf in question but made little conversation, afraid of raising suspicion through his own mannerisms.

Kyle glanced around items, looking through the glass front at the large building. At some point he jokingly pondered slipping through the sewers, that was until he actually thought if it was feasible. Until he realised what he could do that nobody else could. When he realised of something that nobody else ever would think possible, for anybody normal.

Because Kyle wasn’t normal.

Kyle was a slime.

He stood there for a few more minutes, he had an hour and a half remaining before the Elders would gather. He thought up ideas, possible problems and mentally listed what he required then before long he had a plan.

Yet for any plan to succeed he first needed to know one specific thing, where would the Elders even gather within the hall itself? It was a massive building after all and each floor was almost exactly the same…all but one, the underground floor where each couple of guards patrolled not an oval shaped area but a square outline.

Kyle guessed the meeting stage was there below guard, within a massive room that the guards did not enter and instead guarded the outside. Why they had built the corridor all around the room he did not know yet, but he figured he wouldn’t need to.

All he had were guesses, little time and only one real way to confirm them. So set on what he would do, Kyle stepped out of the shop and began heading back to the hideout. Close to the centre of the city was the market, several bustling streets with even more of a guard presence than other districts.

The streets weren’t as packed as one would expect from a city market, Elves tended to be precise and the street’s design mirrored such. As Kyle moved through the market, he never once bumped into anybody as the crowd flowed around immaculately.

Kyle somehow felt even more claustrophobic after observing this.

As he approached the market’s southern edge, the streets slowly emptied and if one was keen-eyed they’d notice that the stores also got older and less maintained. Some stores were even abandoned, businesses gone bad and now owned by the city itself. Being a market district there was much more housing than there were stores, unlike most RPGs store owners actually required somewhere to live other than their shops.

Seeing no one around Kyle casually approached one such house, like all the others the plant-life was perfectly cared for around it but the building itself was accumulating dust and cracked at several spots. He stepped to the front-door and knocked twice, briefly stopping before knocking once more, another pause and ending in four final knocks.

He heard the door unlock from the inside, turned the spherical handle and pushed it in. Kyle stepped inside to be greeted by Soren who was in-charge of watching the door.

“Yo…any luck?” the Dwarf asked quietly.

Kyle closed the door behind himself “I’ve got a basic idea of the city, but I still need to confirm several things of what the hell is going on. For that I figured that my best chance is to sneak into the Elders Hall, sort of a city hall where within an hour the Elven Elders will have a get together.” He quickly explained as Soren led him through the curving corridor, all elven buildings seemed to have a circular interior.

“How you gonna do that?” Soren asked as they stopped in front of one of many silver doors within the corridor.

“Several options, still figuring out which.” responded Kyle with a sigh “What I need now is someone to confirm the actual meeting location, I’m afraid I’ll have to kidnap someone so I came here first to warn you all beforehand. Any problems around here?”

Soren briefly stared up at him, a questioning expression “Well…it use to be a problem…” he said while opening the door.

“What do you me-” began to ask Kyle as he glanced into the room, Lilior in her Fairy form sat above the aqua-marine Dungeon crystal that filled most of this kitchen while Karnage sat at the table staring at them anxiously.

Kyle noticed a third individual in the room, tied up, gagged and knocked out in the corner of the room was a well-dressed Night Elf. “The fuck did you…what the hell did…” He couldn’t find the right words to express his confusion.

“Dunno, guy just walked right in so I knocked him out.” responded Soren with a shrug.

Kyle blinked twice before walking into the room, sighing once more “Well…that solves one problem.” he approached the unconscious Elf.

“I was just gonna kill the guy but…missy over there had something to say about that.” Soren grumbled.

“You had no particularly effective reason to!” Karnage barked back in annoyance.

“Being a pain in my ass is a particularly effective reason enough.” responded Soren while rolling his eyes.

“Cut it out, disposing of a corpse would have been more of a pain in the ass than keeping a prisoner.“ Kyle stepped in ”This works out anyhow, Soren help me carry him into another room.”

Soren grumbled through the entire process of both heaving the Elf up, who was surprisingly light. But because of the Dwarf’s height would wake up with a bit of a headache as his head dragged across the floor while being carried out of the room, through the corridor and into another room.

Kenneth Velio was just your average inspector, being a junior he was only tasked to search and observe abandoned housing within the market district. Going from empty building to empty building he drowned into his routine, checking the building’s state of deterioration and noting down any problems with the wildlife.

That was until a mad-eyed Dwarf hit him on the head with a pan, knocking him out cold.

As he regained consciousness Kenneth pondered on several questions. (“Why was there a Dwarf here? Why did that Dwarf throw a pan at me?”)

Those questions were quickly replaced with others (“Am I tied up?...Why is it so dark?...What is in my mou-”) until he fully opened his eyes to find himself in a damp and unnaturally dark room. Darkness unnaturally flowed around the room’s edges, walls and ceiling while the floor was entirely covered in a blue goo that clung to his feet.

He whimpered as he suddenly felt the goo move up his legs and separate into several more tentacles that wrapped around his body, glancing down he saw even thicker tentacles tying him to the chair he sat on and one wrapped around his face that gagged his mouth.

Panic quickly settled in as he struggled with his bindings, the slime not stretching one bit as he did until suddenly a voice creeped out from behind him.

“Ah finally awake, now listen carefully Elf else you may not enjoy the consequences.” The voice was frigid like a winter breeze, a hissing that froze Kenneth’s blood. “I will ask you several questions, now I already know the answer to these questions so if your answer is incorrect…” suddenly the tentacles climbing up his body spread out away from him and forming sharp icicles at their ends before turning them down at him.

Kenneth nodded vigorously as his expression paled and eyes opened to their widest ever. He felt the slime gagging his mouth slowly melt away, causing him to spit it out in a panic. It strangely tasted like blueberry. “Wha-what do you want?...” he asked, his tone terrified and voice cracking.

“First question…What is your name.” the voice more so stated than asked, as it did so Kenneth felt tentacles frolicking around his ears causing him to shiver.

“K-Kenenth Velio!” he quickly answered.

“Correct, second question. Where do you live?” it then asked, it’s tone never changing or showing the slightest bit of emotion.

“East N-night district!” Kenneth answered once more, whimpering as the tentacles moved from his ears down to his neck.

The voice chuckled coldly “Correct again, third question now and this is a bit more difficult…Why are the courts moving without agreement from the Elders?”

Kenneth felt the tentacles grow colder and more solid before a sharp surface began to tease his neck-skin, causing his entire body to stiffen in horror.

“Tick…tock…answer the question Kenneth.” Added the voice after he didn’t answer.

“I-I don’t know much…It-it’s disrespectful of them!” he whimpered when an icy bladed tentacle suddenly rose to his left eye.

“That wasn’t the question…Why are the courts acting without the Elder’s consent?” the voice then asked again.

“They-They’ve always argued with the Elders’ ways!” Kenneth quickly answered, his eyes locked onto the icicle that now danced from eye to eye “The main h-houses are tired of old c-customs! T-The enemy is now trying to r-recruit our allies too! The three c-courts decided to act on their own because of t-that!”

“Hhmm…Vaguely correct, I’ll let it slide…This one time. Third question.” He was so terrified he didn’t even notice the repeat of a third question “Why are the Elders meeting this evening?”

“To d-discuss the court’s actions!” Kenneth immediately answered, watching carefully as the tentacle moved away from his face and re-joined the others.

“Correct, fourth question.” The voice suddenly moved closer, as if whispering straight into his right ear “Why do the Elders meet underground if they even do?”

“I…It’s just customary?...” responded Kenneth before quickly adding “The area is sacred! I-I hear it also allows the seventh to partake! Some s-special seat built just f-for her!”

“Ah, bonus points for that last bit. Last question before the rapidfire round…” the voice had moved to his other ear now when suddenly each of the still, bladed tentacles lunged at his face only stopping inches away from wounding him “And make sure to leave nothing out…answer in full detail.”

Kenneth only whimpered in response.

“Inside the Elders Hall...where is the shitter closest to the bottom floor?”

Kenneth whimpered back in question and confusion.