“Well that fucking sucked,” sweat ran down Ethan’s neck as he ripped his helmet off once they’d returned to the entrance of the Tower. “Did we even get anything at all that will sell?” The rest of his guild was milling around the floor selection pedestal in the middle of the room looking dejected as they removed helms and drank healing potions.

“Some crafting materials,” Miguel shook his head as he scanned through his inventory for what little they’d gotten off the seventh floor. “Two of the same set of bracers, how unlucky is that?”

Since the disastrous night with Faelyn two weeks prior ago, they’d completely given up on trying to sell first floor runs. That had been an entire day wasted for a paltry three hundred and seventy five gold, barely a drop in the bucket of the needed ten thousand.

“This is getting old, fast,” Sam wiped soot and dirt from his face. “We need just a really good drop or two that we can sell.”

“What are we at, Miguel?” Ethan looked in the direction of the cleric who was still organizing their pathetic drops. “Just a little over eight, right?”

“Yeah, that sounds right,” Miguel’s eyes were glazed over and unfocused as he concentrated. “I’ll check the auctions in the morning.”

“This would be a lot easier if Leah was coming with us,” David grumbled as he stored his tarnished helmet in his inventory.

“She won’t come out of her room,” Alera shook her head. “I’m getting really worried about her.” She looked between Sam and Ethan. “Have either of you talked to her recently?”

“I can’t even get her to answer the door,” Sam tossed a small piece of meat to his ever present familiar. The tiny demon snarled and furiously ripped into it with razor sharp teeth. “I mean, I understand this is harder on her than the rest of us, but she needs to let us help her.”

“Try convincing her to come with us tomorrow, Alera,” Ethan said before walking back towards the exit to the outside. “It’s not good for her to keep wallowing.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises.”

A full moon lit up the sky of the cool night as they rode back to Startesgarde. Ethan glanced up at the countless stars above him, too tired to take in the beauty of the clear night.

We have one more week until the gold is due, we can make it, he easily guided his mare down the familiar and well worn path away from the Tower. Not like we have any choice, I don’t even know what would happen to us if we failed to pay off the fine.

A thunder of hooves behind him broke the quiet, calm of the night and his thoughts. Ethan turned quickly in his saddle to see who was racing to catch up with him.

“Hey,” Sam shouted, slowing his horse to match pace with Ethan. “I need you, now.”

“What’s going on?” Ethan titled his head and stared blankly at his friend. “Everything okay?”

“Someone finally messaged me back with information about Paul and his guild,” Sam grinned triumphantly from ear to ear. “But we have to go now.”

Ethan blinked rapidly in disbelief. For weeks they had heard nothing, he’d even given up on going to see Arianna. His exhaustion melted away at the first truly good news he’d heard in weeks.

“Shit, yes!” He nodded emphatically, “who is it?”

“I’ll explain when we get closer, we don’t have much time,” Sam kicked his horse hard in the ribs and the charger took off at a full sprint.

Ethan didn’t bother to message any of the rest of his guildmates, there would be time to explain later if what Sam said was true. He kicked his own mare into a run, much gentler than Sam, and took off, following Sam’s cloud of dust.

Ethan’s heart pounded as they sped through across the plains and forest. Adrenaline surged through his body keeping him laser focused on following Sam.

The streets of Startesgarde were near empty as they rode into the town. A few players, not part of a large enough guild or the raid clan to progress into the Tower, milled around vendors or outside taverns.

“It’s really weird how the entire city just shuts down on progression nights,” Ethan was surprised his voice didn’t echo off the nearly empty walls of the buildings as he walked.

“Everything about Startesgarde is devoted to players and the Tower,” Sam shrugged, his familiar clapped its veiny wings to maintain balance and hissed in annoyance. “Makes sense that when the raid clan is occupied, the city would be deserted.”

“I guess,” Ethan said quietly. “Where are we going, by the way? You haven’t said anything other than we had to hurry.”

Sam sighed and stopped walking, “You have to promise you won’t freak out,”

“That’s oddly ominous,” dread rose from the pit in Ethan’s stomach as his suspicions grew.

“We’re going to see Kevin,” Sam chewed on his lip as he watched Ethan for any change in expression.

“You fucking went to Kevin about this?” His suspicion confirmed, anger surged through him. Even though the inciting event had been years ago, neither Ethan nor Kevin had been able to let the grudge go.

“Listen!” Sam grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and stared at his face. “This is more important than your grudge with him, so for the next hour, or however long it takes, you play nice!”

“What the hell did you tell him?” Ethan pushed Sam’s arms away and glared at his friend.

“Does it matter?” Sam looked appalled. “Does it matter more than finding out something that could lead us to Tae-Won?”

“Sam-“

“Are you that hung up on stuff from a game that we don’t even play, that you would sacrifice our first and only lead?”

“That’s not the point!” Ethan screamed.

“Then what the fuck is, Ethan?” Sam glared at him. “Are your personal feelings about bullshit from six years ago more important than Leah’s husband?”

Ethan scowled and shuffled his feet awkwardly.

“Suck it the fuck up, Ethan,” Sam put his hands on Ethan’s shoulders again. “You don’t want to deal with Kevin, fine.” He gestured wildly down the empty street. “But I’m going to find out anything I can.”

“Let’s...,” Ethan gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Let’s just make this quick.”

Sam sighed and continued walking.

I’m doing this for Leah and Tae-Won, he reassured himself as they walked in silence. I don’t have to be happy about where this information is coming from, but at least it’s something.

“Are you going to be cool?” Sam asked him several minutes later when they stopped outside a brightly lit tavern.

“As long as Kevin is,” Ethan nodded curtly. “Bigger picture and all that.”’

“Whatever man,” Sam rolled his eyes and entered the bar.

Ethan was surprised at the subdued atmosphere he found when he followed Sam inside. He’d expected a room full of drunken players making as much noise as possible, but there were only a handful of people situated at small tables scattered through the room. He couldn’t help but notice that all of them wore the violet crystal insignia of the Knights of Aether on their clothes.

As soon as he entered, the quiet conversations came to a complete halt as a heavy silence descended on the room.

A familiar, raven haired woman at the table closest to the door stood up and approached him. Her companion, a shorter man rolled his eyes and ran his finger over the rim of the mug in front of him before rising and following her.

“You are in wrong place, Ethan,” Galina’s smile never faded as she caressed the pommel of a curved dagger on her belt. “We own this bar, you are not welcome here.”

“Just trying to talk to Kevin,” he said through gritted teeth, hoping their leader’s name would let him through. His eyes scanned the crowd of faces staring at him for either Sam or Kevin

“We give you one possibility to leave,” Piotr, her husband, stepped between Ethan and Galina. “This is fight you cannot win.” His thick accent had always grated Ethan’s ears over voice chat.

“Not looking for a fight, Piotr,” Ethan tried to stay calm. “Just need to talk to Kevin.” He nodded in the direction of the bar where Sam had taken a seat. “Sam set this up, you know I wouldn’t willingly set foot in here.”

“Ha! Your cowardice once again shows your true self!” Galina cackled from behind her husband. Several of her guildmates joined in with mocking laughter.

“No,” Ethan felt his skin flush. Walked into that one. “I just have higher standards.”

“You insult Knights of Aether!” Galina attempted to lunge at him, drawing her blade. Ethan’s hand flew to the hilt of his seaxes, preparing for a fight. But Piotr held his wife back.

“If you are here, as you say, to speak to Kevin,” Piotr glared at him, still keeping Galina at bay, “I suggest you join Sam at bar.”

Ethan nodded and relaxed his grip on his weapon. He’d forgotten that Piotr had always been the more level headed one of the pair. Even his earlier statement had been more of a caution than a threat, Ethan realized.

“Thank you,” he nodded solemnly, suddenly very glad of Piotr’s presence. “I don’t think we’ll be long.”

“That is probably for the best,” Piotr turned back to his wife and began speaking rapidly in their native tongue as Ethan, as quickly as he could, made his way to Sam.

“Thanks for leaving me back there,” Ethan said sourly, taking the empty stool at the bar . “You could have helped.” He scanned the mirrored bar, looking for something strong to take the edge off being in enemy territory.

“You’re a big boy, you looked like you had it covered,” Sam took a drink of his beer but didn’t turn to look at Ethan. “Besides, they like me here. I didn’t want to mess that up.”

“You seem to be more concerned with your popularity with them, than your loyalty to the rest of the guild” Ethan glared at Sam’s reflection in the mirror.

Sam pushed his stool back and stood up, rounding on Ethan. “Loyalty? What the fuck do you want me to be loyal to? To you?” He growled and jabbed his finger in Ethan’s chest. “To our guild?” He jabbed him again. “The only two things that matter is getting Kim Tae-Won back and getting home. This personal shit you’ve got against Kevin doesn’t even fucking register!”

“That wasn’t what you said when it happened!” Ethan snapped back, not caring if they were overheard.

“Ethan, that was six years ago,” Sam wiped his hands down his head. “Before I was trapped away from my husband, from my life!”

“You keep throwing that shit back at me, like all of this is my fault!” He slammed his fist on the bar, rattling the mugs nearby. “You tell me I’m not doing enough, I do more. You say that I’m distracted by a woman, I make sure to work on balancing her and everyone else. Christ, what more do you want from me, Sam?”

“I want you to get your head out of your ass and realize this isn’t about you!” Sam’s kept his voice low as his eyes darted around the room. “What you do, what grudges you have, none of that fucking matters as long as we’re all trapped here!”

He paused and took a deep breath.

“We need to do anything we can, get any information from anywhere we can, to get back on track to getting home.”

“Whatever,” Ethan snorted and waved to get the bartender’s attention. He could feel his blood pounding in his head asanger and adrenaline surged through him. Calm down, he’s being an asshole but this is still the first lead yet.

Sam sighed again and sat back down on his stool.

“Can, uh, can you get your gentlemen anything?” The grizzled bartender approached them cautiously, clearly having seen their quick argument.

“Just a whiskey,” Ethan said softly, looking down at the counter and shaking his head.

“Pardon me, sir, what was that?”

Ethan looked up and saw the man nervously lean closer, waiting for Ethan to repeat his order.

“Whiskey,” he sighed, turning to look around the bar. Everyone else quickly pretended to be very interested in their own drinks and he realized all of Kevin’s guildmates had heard everything that had just happened between him and Sam.

“Very good, sir,” the bartender flashed him an anxious smile, showing off a mismatched grin of broken teeth. “And you, Sam, a refill of the usual?”

A hit dagger of betrayal twisted in his gut as it hit him that Sam was a regular here.

“Yeah, that’s fine, Torrance,” Sam nodded and frowned.

“Won’t be but a moment,” Torrance smiled friendly at Sam and quickly bustled off to fill their drinks.

Ethan opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it. Let it go, finish this and get home. Sam can fuck off and do whatever he wants, he’s made that clear.

“When is Kevin supposed to be here?” Ethan greedily grabbed the small cup of whiskey Torrance slid towards him and took a sip.

“Any minute,” Sam nodded in thanks to Torrance and sipped carefully from his drink. “He just messaged and said he was finishing getting his contact ready.”

“Just finished actually,” Kevin’s announcement startled Ethan just as he’d taken the first sip of rotgut whiskey, causing him to cough and choke. “Easy there, Ethan. I remember my first drink as well.”

“Good to see you, Sam,” Kevin clapped him hard on the shoulders, while Ethan struggled to catch his breath.

“Thanks, man,” Sam smiled amicably. “Everything set? Can we meet this person?

“She’s upstairs,” Kevin jerked his head over his shoulder. “I figured we’d do this in private, let you guys talk to her without everyone staring.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Ethan dropped a single gold piece on the counter to pay for his unfinished drink.