(Zack)

I lead the twins to another shop, but tell them to wait outside while I go in. They can't see inside unless they peak in through the door, so I'm not too worried. The shop is empty, so I'm able to walk straight up to the counter.

"Hello, Zack," the woman on the other side smiles. "Here for the package?"

"Yes, ma'am," I respond, and she heads into the back, returning after a few minutes with something wrapped in brown paper tied with twine.

She sets it down, and I open it up in such a way that I can wrap it and tie it back up with the same paper and twin. I pull out the item and examine it. It's a black robe with white and grey swirls. The magic rune for air shimmers in silver thread on the back of it, and a silver clasp will hold the robe closed when worn.

Braden's Robe of Air This robe improves the effects of all air-based magics while improving resistances against the same and has a high resistance to physical damage. It was woven for Braden Normar. Air Magic Boost: +100% Air Magic Resistance: +100% Damage Resistance: 100 plus the wearer's Endurance Appraisal is now Level 9!

Unlike Luca, Braden's in combat all the time. Using this robe, he'll be able to do more damage to the monsters, allowing him to challenge stronger of the weaker monsters, and once he's Level 5, which may only take him a week or two, now, I'll let him go after Goblins.

Not only will his damage increase, but the fact that the robe itself has a quality resistance to it means that he can take a hit, too. He'll probably still feel pain and get bruised up, but a goblin's rusty sword won't cut through it.

It wasn't a cheap robe to make, and I drop a diamond in the clerk's hand, before folding the robe back up and rewrapping it. I'll eventually have something strong made for Luca, but since he's always with me in combat scenarios, I won't for now.

With the robe rewrapped, I send it into my Inventory, then thank the clerk and leave, meeting the twins outside. I take them home and send them off for a bath as I start working on dinner. When I finish, the twins join me at the table to eat.

Dinner is silent, and when we finish, Nik shows up. I set the twins to cleaning the table as I walk over to the property's entrance.

"What's up?" I ask.

"War meeting," he answers. "There's a big one on the temple's front involving most every person of power or influence in Maelnor; the heads of all of the different orders and organizations will be there. It'll go pretty late, then in the morning, the individual organizations will have their own war meetings."

"And I'm to be there?" I ask.

"You're an influential Dark Knight," he nods, then hesitates for a moment. He doesn't agree with the other reason, does he? "And I hate to say it, but you might be able to see something we can't. They want to know if you'll try and see the horde so we can get an advance estimate. I'd rather we not use you like that, but…"

"I understand," I nod. "The horde's numbers won't be so obvious until much closer. I can try, but I make no guarantees, and it only shows me the most likely outcome when I force it, which isn't always the actual outcome."

"I know," he says. "Will you come?"

"Yes," I nod. "I suppose that means staying the night."

I look at the twins, who are arguing over who washes and who dries. Luca's winning the argument about getting to wash the dishes.

"It would," Nik nods when I look back to him. "I know how you are about the boys."

"I want to say 'nothing ever happens at night'," I tell him. "But that's exactly the kind of statement that challenges the universe. I leave them alone, something will happen, but everyone I trust, I assume will be there?"

"What about Aurum?"

"I trust Aurum," I say. "But I meant trust who has a fair bit of power."

"In that case, yes," he answers. "Even Samantha and her students will be there, and her students technically don't qualify. The only reason we don't want the twins there-"

"Is because it'd probably frighten Luca too much," I finish, and he nods. "I understand. I'll trust them to behave, then. They'd probably enjoy having a night to themselves. Are the shops staying open?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Most of them don't matter for the preparations, though a few of the craftsmen will be there, like Jackson. And Zack – part of this is so you can be seen by those who don't know you yet."

Which can help decrease incidents like what happened earlier, even if people like that clerk won't be there.

"Okay," I say. "How long?"

"An hour."

"See you then," I tell him, and he leaves.

I watch the twins as they do the dishes, and once everything is washed, dried, and put away, I call them over.

"Luca," I say. "You already have the fancy robe I gave you, so I'll have another one made for you at some other time. Braden, I wasn't expecting you, so I didn't commission anything good, and you've had basic stuff. What I was doing after Jackson's shop earlier was picking up the robe I had made for you. It's a gift, from me to you."

I pull out the package and hand it to Braden, who opens it, his eyes widening as he sees the robe. He lets the paper and twine fall to the ground as he examines the robe, which he promptly pulls on, grinning at Luca.

I'm glad he likes it. Hopefully, that, combed with our talk last night, helps him see that even when I seem like an ass, there's a good side to me, too. I do have to wonder if he told Luca about our talk, though.

Braden actually said I'm not as much of an ass as I seem, and he was being genuine about it. I'd caught Braden sneaking down to the bath after he thought I was asleep, and that prompted a talk between us. Maybe tonight, he'll tell Luca what we talked about.

Hm… maybe I could do a little more to boost the trust Braden has for me, so that he's not as hard-headed when I tell him not to do something?

"Also," I pull out two gold coins. "Each of you gets one gold. I'm needed for a war council, and I won't be back until sometime tomorrow morning, okay? You can spend this gold however you want, it's yours.

"In addition," I look at Braden. "You are permitted to go into the fields around Maelnor tomorrow, before I return. I'll find you if you're out there. There will be Slimes and Rats around, and if you go into the northern part, where we normally train, there won't be any too far beyond your power. That robe boasts some decent defense of its own, and it improves the strength of all of your air-based Skills, doubling their power. Don't go up against any Elites or Bounties until I've assessed how you are with it now, and if you fight any groups of slimes that have a Heal Slime make sure to kill those first. Don't go after Goblins, I want you to wait on those until you're Level 5 and have a bit more stats, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," he says. "This robe is cool. It feels nice, too."

"Thanks," I smile at him. "Anyway, I need to get going for the war council. I'll see you two tomorrow."

As I leave my property, a chill runs down my spine. A feeling that something's going to happen. Maybe I should stay behind? But I'm kind of needed for the war council. Shaking my head, I dismiss the feeling as me just being paranoid.

It is the first time I'm really leaving them alone, after all, so it's probably just nerves and my constant fear that Braden's going to die on me, since he wasn't in my visions and didn't Ascend.

(Luca)

The scary guy leaves, and Braden continues to marvel at the robe. I didn't know the scary guy liked my brother that much. An idea crosses Braden's face at the same time annoyance does, and I don't like that.

"Come on, Luca," Braden says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Let's go shopping for supplies."

"The scary guy has plenty."

"Maybe," Braden says. "But he doesn't have potions, and he gave us enough gold to get some. I need a new staff, too."

"You're going to go fight more slimes?" I ask.

"No," he grins at me. "Without Zack around to stop me, we can go fight goblins. He's talked a bit about training in Talorn, I bet he just doesn't want us there so we don't risk getting stronger than him."

This is a bad idea, Braden. A really, really bad idea. Unfortunately, he's very stubborn and goes through with this stupid, stupid plan, so I follow him. He says we'll go for two days, so our first stop is the general store for some food. He spends almost four silver on food, then another two to buy us two thick blankets to use on the road. I think we should get a tent, too, but find it hard to talk around others.

With those purchased, Braden takes me to a shop that sells staffs, where he examines a few, deciding on a really nice one that takes up the rest of his money. Braden barely manages to haggle the guy down so he can spend just what he has left.

He's going to make me spend mine on the potions for him. I don't want to help him do this.

We get to the potions shop, and I shake my head. Braden doesn't let up until I give him the gold, though. He uses it to buy twenty Mana Potions and ten Health Potions, leaving me with sixteen silver remaining. This doesn't make me happy at all.

This is a bad idea, Braden. Let's not do it. The scary guy doesn't want us going there for a reason. I don't think the scary guy wants us to avoid Talorn to prevent us from getting stronger. I'm pretty sure he's stronger than we could ever be. That wasn't some Skill he used to get us back to Maelnor the other day, he was running. I'm sure of it.

Now that we're resupplied, Braden leads me out of town. We walk for almost an hour before I have to sit down and rest, and twenty minutes later, we're walking again. I'm really tired. At some point, it's dark and I find myself on Braden's back.

Why did he want to leave so late into the day instead of waiting until morning?

I ask him that.

He says it's because the trip's a long one, and he wants as much time as possible to fight goblins in Talorn before the scary guy shows up to interfere.

As long as we stick to the road, we should be fine. According to the scary guy, the roads have a sort of innate protection, and as long as we stay on them between Cities, we should be fine if we're under Level 10. That protection disappears if we step off, and won't return until we enter and exit a City again.

Because of that, Braden suggests we sleep for a few hours at a time. That helps restore our stamina, but burns away about five hours, since we take turns doing it before walking some more. By the time we finally reach the crumbled walls of Talorn, my legs are burning and I'm exhausted. It's also morning.

We nap for a couple of hours, then enter the Fallen City. Almost immediately, we're greeted by a goblin, which Braden kills with just two Wind Spikes. He grins at me, then continues walking through the streets. That was a Level 1 Goblin.

There aren't many monsters around, though we do come across a few large Rats and some goblins. The stronger goblins take Braden three to five hits to kill. He manages to reach Level 5 by the time he uses up ten of the Mana Potions, and I'm really, really nervous, now.

Something is really, really wrong. Braden tells me it's just nerves because I'm a scaredy-cat, that everything here is easy.

So far, yeah. But we've only faced regular goblins and some weaker soldier-type ones. Nothing at Level 5 yet, and no magical ones. My bad feeling keeps rising. I feel like something or someone is keeping the monsters at bay.

Did the Shadow of Life wake up? Is he leading us into a trap? I know that Travis said he's sleeping right now because of an injury the most powerful Adventurer in the Boundary gave him, but did he wake?

I'm scared. I want the scary guy here. He'd protect us.

Eventually, Braden sees the Dark Temple, and starts making his way towards it. I don't know why, probably because it's considered a 'safe' and 'scared' place, and we want to rest?

When we get there, however, there's a really, really large monster just after we turn the corner. A goblin bigger than any I've seen before, holding a staff. Braden freezes up, and the goblin swings its staff, which slams into Braden.

My brother tumbles across the street as I stare in horror at what just happened. It was so fast, I didn't even see the staff move until it stopped. The thing just… threw my brother across the street, and Braden's not breathing.

The goblin walks over to Braden, poking him with the staff, then laughs, before looking at me. But Braden's not breathing. Does that mean he's dead? He can't be dead, he can't be!

"HEAL!" I throw my hands out, hoping I can heal him. I can heal him, right? Even if I'm too far away? Even if I'm not right by him? But the thing's coming closer. "HEAL!"

It doesn't work. Maybe the golden light? The thing's walking over casually, I need to heal him so we can get out of here. I draw on my golden light.

"HEAL!"

The world goes golden, and when it fades away, I feel myself starting to drop. Too exhausted. Going to die, too, just like Braden. The goblin's stopped around twenty feet away.

I hit the ground and look up at the big goblin, which has thrown a ball of fire at me. The next thing I know, there's a familiar sword in front of me, the fireball slamming into it, disappearing. That's weird. Am I hallucinating? That's not the scary guy holding his sword, that's a demon. No, I can't die. Can't be killed by a demon. Have to tell the scary guy… tried to stop him…

Everything goes black.