A new day rose and I was still alive. A part of me wondered if counting it as a good day that I woke up alive at this point. Then again everyone else seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed as everyone else had unwanted visitors bothering their dreams.

Most of them by Nyte who had wanted a more… personalized introduction to each of them and to figure out exactly what they wanted. Not a lot of people had been able to boot him out of their dreams or keep hidden exactly what tempted them either.

Mr Hawkings stared at me in mild annoyance not because he had a hard time sleeping last night due to dream intrusions. No he was more annoyed at everyone else had called him trying to figure out what was going on.

“I thought he was contained.” He spoke glaring at the jar that had cost him a good night’s rest.

“Cthulhu was contained and he still messed with people’s dreams.” I countered “Comes with part of the territory when you deal with the eldritch.”

The others stared at me as I knew I wasn’t a popular person. The very fact that I had ‘lost the hill’ had been left as a black mark on my record… but nobody argued too loudly due to how I lost it. The very idea that an ‘outsider’ would interfere with the sanctity of a duel and practically gut me before announcing the challenge was a crime to them.

Then again they operated by Fae contracts… so getting attacked and nearly killed right before they declared a challenge probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“You could have warned us.” Mr Hawkings spoke with a shake of his head “Maybe we could have…”

“Give me a little more protection or prepare for the next time someone blatantly cheated?” I couldn’t help, but snap back “Sorry if I was focused more on trying to recover after having my kidneys torn out of my body and started dancing on them.”

He frowned “The council and everyone here refuses to accept anyone doing that… even they very hill itself has blighted itself in retribution against the act.”

Oh yes a real ‘King Fisher’ effect going on there. Rotting wood, dying plants, the entire thing left to rot and ruin… yet still accepted nonetheless.

“Doesn’t matter if you like it.” I muttered with an all too familiar feeling “Especially if they make themselves the only pick.”

Mr Hawkings didn’t bother glancing at me know as the door crept open once again. I almost felt like a convict awaiting the death sentence as all the lawyers, guards, and politicians argued about which method was the most ‘humane’ and such.

It didn’t matter how they tried to phrase it because at the end of the day… my odds of surviving this place weren’t great. The very fact they seemed to be struggling in not letting the eldritch nuke the city really hurt my faith in them.

The deal was simple… Nyte offered them something in exchange for them voting yes. Nyte reminded them that they would still get to keep the offer even if the total vote ended in a loss. The problem was that everyone wanted something and seemed ready to argue on who got to say yes and which people had to give the honorable sacrifice of saying no… for the good of the city.

It was akin to watching an old lady toss a bunch of bread crumbs in the middle of a flock of pigeons… no watching an old lady toss fresh meat to a bunch of starving lions. They were more likely to attack one another to get the food.

And all it cost them was me playing ‘contractor’ to an eldritch entity that found business deals easier to understand than human morality. I mean he would keep his word… it was just limiting the amount of damage instead of having mercs with explosives trying to take potshots at the magical community.

Averia entered the church looking a bit more annoyed though she seemed a bit surprised at the amount of Nyte’s henchmen who were actually paying their respect to the place.

She joined me on the bench “Okay not to be rude… but why are they… praying?”

“Kornea can be chaotic and some people cling to faith to keep their sanity.” I replied as the preacher was busy trying to keep the peace between those from the Spire and those from the city “It gets a little more leverage or validity when Eldritch Entities like Nyte tend to tiptoe around the churches and give them a healthy amount of respect.”

“In the same way an adult is careful around a poisonous snake?” Mr Hawkings spoke with a shake of his head “I mean that they fear the churches… not that churches are dishonest or anything.”

Those from the Spire stopped glaring at them as it was one of those cultural things. Some might lean towards faith while others treated churches like lifeboats… you might not always need one, but it never hurt to know where one was at incase the ship sank.

“So did you have any rest last night or are you here to complain about Nyte trying to bargain with you in your sleep?” I asked the half-elf.

She shook her head though I could see the bags underneath her eyes “The one pretending to be Agatha Willow attacked me… before the demon from last night tried attacking us both in my dreams.”

Mr Hawkings flinched, but Averia just simply grinned in triumph as obviously she won. Still the Fae that entered after her still seemed a bit uneasy. They sort of smirked when those from the Spire saw them and were annoyed that God hadn’t sent out divine judgement because they stepped inside a church.

Still they were not willing to pick a fight either due to fearful respect to the church… or that Nyte had forbidden anyone from his side drawing the first punch.

“So what happened?” I asked more for her sake than mine.

The bags from underneath her eyes seemed to have cleared up a little as she started telling me what had happened. She was a little bit hesitant during one of the parts as she kept staring at me saying ‘The nightmare was messing with my mind’... but eventually ended with how her father was able to step in.

As somehow Fae Realms could also extend to dream realms… and they very land from the Fae Realm somehow recoiled and tried to assault the ‘demon’ who had finally given them a name.

Akara… because of course he was still trying to kill me.

I sank my head into my hands “So he threatened you after trying to kill her… and is still trying to kill me. You know… I thought that his curse would have given him enough trouble to keep him from finding time to try and murder me.”

“You mean… that’s Akara?” Averia spoke in utter disbelief “I mean I know that you said the Gremlin is an imp, but… in what universe does that unholy abomination against reality count as human?”

“One that had existed a few months ago.” I bitterly replied “He wanted to try becoming an eldritch super power… I just tweaked his ‘grand ritual’ a little as reality and magic can be a very uncaring mistress to those who forget to carry the two.”

“So…” The half-elf glanced at those from the Spire “You cursed him so that his body looks like his own twisted heart and soul?”

You know… America loved to preach about having someone judged by a jury of their own peers… and yet Akara’s own ‘peers’ had overhead the comment, yet didn’t look partially eager to step in and defend him.

No, they pretended that they hadn’t heard anything as they found so many other things to stare at that were conveniently away from us… despite how she had practically shouted it loud enough for everyone to hear.

And yet not a single person tried to deny it.

Mr Hawkings sort of chuckled in a bitter sweet way “Not even Agatha Willow had an approval rating that low.”

“And yet none of you can trust each other to keep their own word.” One of the mercs replied.

Averia glanced at me as I sighed “Even a demon would still have to abide by the spirit of a pact… For some it’s just a matter of benefits and rates being offered.”

I knew that all too well from past experience… It was one of the main reasons why I was still alive… and why I really needed to have left Kornea before my problems caught up to me. Sadly some problems seemed a bit more stubborn than others.

The door opened up again as another wizard looked slightly guilty as Mr Knight more or less dragged him away from the latest offer being presented… an entire series of books that had been signed by the author.

Mr Hawkings looked a little uneasy as he said “The entire series written by Avandress The Wise?”

The shard of Nyte resting in the jar simply glanced at us “Of course. It would be much harder to make the sale if he had to keep referencing the other books since it is a collection instead of a single book.”

I glanced at Averia as she hung her head “Famous wizard and very few of his tomes still exist… honestly I’d try making an offer if the price wasn’t so damning.”

“Just one vote.” Nyte cheerfully replied

It sounded like such a simple and easy offer… and what was worse was that you knew that he’d honor it. That the books wouldn’t suddenly burst into flames or have entire sections blank… it wouldn’t even surprise me if Nyte had offered to have the texts translated to english for free.

That was how eldritch monsters like him were so hard to get rid of… while they lacked subtly… they had learned to be pretty damn convivincing. After all, it wasn’t a problem… so long as he didn’t get the majority of votes.

Sadly betting against human greed isn't one of my strong suits.

The next person walked into the room with Mr Knight being ready to remind people that he would be the person who’d drag them behind a shed and shoot them if he thought too many of them had been compromised.

Nyte may have been offering goods if they voted yes… but Mr Knight was practically promising death shortly afterwards if not before… if they didn’t vote No.

I motioned for one of the people from Kornea as they came over to hand me a deck of cards. The others looked a little bit confused, but there was a certain amount of respect to those being picked to be a contractor… though in this case I had to wonder if it was more for respect for the dead than anything else.

“Want to play cards while waiting for the verdict?” I asked

The doors to the church swung open as a cold wind seemed to blow through the building. Everyone from Kornea pulled out their guns and stared in confusion, but ready to shoot the first moment they spotted a threat walking through those doors.

Sadly for me this only gave further credence to the danger that The Stitch Witch seemed to represent as she walked into the church as nobody else seemed to see her except the magical members from the city who were doing their best not to look at her.

Sadly for me that option wouldn’t have worked as she walked through two mercenaries including the one who handed me the deck of cards before staring at me. Now I felt a shiver down my spine as I started to wonder if the agreement we had made still covered me.

“Magician.” The Stitch Witch spoke with a hint of anger “I see that your penchant for getting into trouble is still strong.”

“It wasn’t as if I asked to bring an eldritch being into a church.” I dimly replied “Besides the city council gets the final vote. So long as they vote no and agree not to nuke their own city through eldritch beings. Then we don’t have to worry about everyone outside the city limits trying to break in.”

She stared at me for a few seconds before motioning to everyone else as if to say ‘And you picked these people to vote?’

I motioned to the door “That or test me luck with an eldritch power house trying to force me into a contract. His ‘friends’ were obeying the rules by using mundane weapons…”

“Rocket launchers are not ‘mundane’ weapons.” Averia bitterly added.

The Stitch Witch nodded her head before grabbing hold of my shirt. That was when the fine line between paranoia and preparation kicked in as everyone from Kornea aimed their guns near me… I didn’t know if The Stitch Witch was bulletproof, but I’d rather not have that many guns go off in my general direction.

She glanced at the others before shaking her head in annoyance “It is time to repay the debt you owe me Magician.”

I glanced at Mr Hawkings looking for help “I’m a little bit busy Ms creepy eldritch witch who is standing in front of me.”

A few guns had been lowered, but more than one person simply opted to pull out a police batton or a combat knife. The term eldritch covered many things, but a general warning like that was to inform everyone this was a viable threat.

Mr Hawkings glanced at the room where Nyte was busy making another business deal “I’m sorry, but it may be best for her to try and sort out her favor now rather than wait for the proceedings to finish.”

Translation… don’t kill him, but keep him far away.

Because I had offered myself up as the host of Nyte’s little show if the Council should vote yes… and if keeping me away bought them more time then I’d be stuck dealing with her favor which might get me killed.

“It’s times like this that I miss Kornea.” I muttered as The Stitch Witch practically dragged me through the building “At least they were straight forward with their intentions.”

Break--

The ride wasn’t fun especially when you had the local nightmare sitting with you along the way. Averia had opted to join us, but she had nearly stopped when she saw the mode of transportation The Stitch Witch had opted for.

You might have expected something more classic like a hearse or perhaps an old time cart pulled by undead skeletons.

To my surprise it was a black limousine. On the outside it looked expensive, but on the inside… it looked as if it had survived a collision course with a halloween store and a gun shop as dozen of her little hand puppet monsters moved about trying to sort everything.

The only questions she had asked were related to guns… and it only went so far as ‘which gun do you prefer to use’ which wasn’t exactly a good sign.

When the doors opened up I was unsure if I was serving as the local translator or enforce due to the witch’s odd ability of not being able to affect anyone who didn’t know her name… well anyone besides me apparently.

To my surprise it was a coffee shop that had closed down for the day.

“Uh…” I glanced around not finding anyone “Why isn’t there any traffic over here?”

The Stitch Witch walked towards the shop “I think the official cover is a Gas Leak.”

“Official cover…” I asked not exactly sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing

“The one pretending to be Agatha had the vampires convince everyone here of that story… or that they shouldn’t go to work, but think they did and get paid for it either way.” She replied with a shrug “It is unimportant.”

“No, this is very important.” Averia spoke going back to the limousine and started searching for weapons “Where are the crossbows and wooden stakes!”

“It is not a problem because she made the mistake of falling asleep.” The Stitch Witch replied as I was led into the shop.

To my immense horror I saw swarms of vampires somewhat sleeping in the middle of the room as a mixture of powders and chemicals littered the center of the area… and my vehicle’s passenger car door.

Most people might not be able to notice if it was their car door or someone else’s… but the various amounts of ink covered inside the door along with some of my less than legal supplies now being littered across their bodies made me irritated.

It had made me irritated until I recognize some of the components and slipped on my mask and shouted “Masks, Breathers, air…”

“It’s already dissipated.” Nadel spoke from inside the store “Your car was by the hill when the retribution curse took effect… I’m not sure if they are dead or… simply asleep.”

I kept the mask on and crept closer as I stared at the vampires like a man would creep up on a sleeping lion. Shotgun in hand my paranoia only grew when I got close enough to take a closer look at their bodies.

I’m probably the farthest person you could get to understanding the biology of vampires… but black bulging veins were probably unusual. If they were on a human the sheer size would make me think they were horribly sick, dying, or dead.

Nadel pulled out a knife and poked one of the vampires before I could react.

To my immense shock inky black blood bleed out like a leaky faucet as the unconscious vampire opened its eyes. It just stared off into the distance in what could best be described as a drug induced stupor.

“Ash and Salt… what the heck did these things do to themselves?” I asked as a large part of me wanted to start gathering jars.

The more rational part of me didn’t want to dump them all in containers and bleed them of their ink… but realized that these were vampires who could and would try to kill me the moment their drug induced stupor ran off.

“This was the first case we ran into. The easiest one we thought you could deal with.” The Stitch Witch replied “They were the ones who tried to experiment with the mixture without… proper understanding.”

“I’m going to need gloves, prongs… and bags. Lots of bags and jars.” I slowly replied, staring at some of the ingredients I didn’t recognize. “What are the glowing mushroom bits?”

Nadel shook her head “Ethran Root. Sort of a potion marker’s catch all. It’s generally used to help substitute for missing ingredients, kind of like Eye of Newt.”

“So they looked up my cookbooks and swapped ingredients.” I spoke feeling a little bit better and worse “And they decided to swap salad oil with soy sauce or mix up Salt with powdered Ash.”

If you followed the instructions then everything was fine. If you tossed some out thinking that ‘eggs’ or ‘flour’ wasn’t needed to bake a cake… well then you weren’t baking a cake so it should come as a surprise when it didn’t taste like a normal cake!

Averia came back into the shop and noticed all of the unconscious vampires before pulling out a machete “Okay we can cut off some of the leg chairs as stakes tend to be easier than trying to saw off their heads.”

“Bathroom would be for the best.” I added as I looked for containers “We can harvest the blood and ash so that I can refine into ink. I’ll even share a percentage depending on how much we can salvage…”

“This isn’t the problem you need to worry about.” The Stitch Witch spoke in mild annoyance “The Heir from last night fell asleep with your cursed orb.”

Now I felt a chill down my spine as the Stitch Witch opened up the back door of the coffee shop. What should have been a normal alleway with dumpsters or something had now been replaced with rainy streets and The Spire just standing off in the distance.

Normally I preferred to avoid swearing in ways that the christan churches might get offended, but this was one of those moments that made me question my sanity.

“What in god’s name did you idiots do!” I shouted in disbelief

Nadel coughed as she looked back at the vampires “Apparently they had been… listening to the orb.”

“Something calling itself Necara had claimed you had cured a vampire of their weakness against sunlight.” The Stitch Witch spoke in a calm tone “I had been watching them since none knew my name… and fled when the vampires prepared to do a ritual called The Irony of Kuranes.”

The name rang home as I realized what the idiots had done and that Nyte wasn’t the only one who had taken an interest… or offense to this city’s presence.

“Congrats…” I spoke as the horror slowly grew “When I woke up this morning I was afraid that Nyte might somehow convince you all to have him run loose within your city. Somehow you’ve managed to do something far worse!”

“How bad could it be?” Averia spoke “I mean we can…”

“Necara is the eldritch entity who has taken a perverse study in the art of flesh, dreams, and death.” I dimly replied as I stared at the vampires “She isn’t all knowing or she would have warned this patch of not mixing up ingredients… but this?”

I motioned towards the section of the Cold Districts or ‘Kuranes Lane’ as some idiots liked to joke.

“This is a small localized breach in reality.” I nearly shouted “It’s essentially one of those things that is considered breaking one of the major laws of Kornea!”

Forget the meeting determining the fate of this city. The moment anyone from Kornea found out about this mess they would start scorched earth tactics! Salt and Ash I was half tempted to call them myself as this was cut into one of the worst districts possible!

“Fourth Law… do not poke holes in reality!” I muttered in disbelief as I wondered why so many people seemed to take issue with this minor law.

It was crossing the line between plausibility and insanity. The point in which sane men go insane and start taking absurd amounts of narcotic drugs or ritualistic sacrificing people thinking that their blood will please whatever heathen gods that grant them insight.

At best they might make some sort of ‘pocket reality’ which some people believed was how Kornea started… one too many idiots poking holes into the fabric of reality before their entire city/location “fell” into Kornea.

It wasn’t exactly uncommon for normal people to take a wrong turn only to end up lost in Kornea with no idea how they got there. Just another minor ‘hole’ and another missing people’s case report with no real explanation.

“Could you be more precise?” Averia asked

“Precise?” I asked in mild annoyance “We have someone who didn’t do any temporal nonsense and decided to set up an area where dream and reality could almost become interchangeable.”

They didn’t remember it all, but after nearly dying three times it was enough to make me want to call in the calvary. Oh sure they might say ‘Witch Legacy Rock’ allowed her a level of control and precision that allowed her to do it.

Yet she had the bloody orb.

It operated less on ‘control and precision’ and more on overwhelming firepower, a dash of insanity, and a freaking spotlight for the more dangerous eldritch elements that couldn’t be solved with a well placed shotgun blast.

It would be like saying that you wouldn’t have to fight a sniper… but simply a lunatic with a flamethrower in the middle of a corn maze. Technically you could say it was easier, but only from those sitting in the audience instead of the battleground.

I pinched my nose and tried giving an example for how messed up things could get “Think of it as a point where the laws of reality become fuzzy. Where sections of reality could literally be cut off from one another or somehow intersecting with each other. Illusions made reality where reality itself can fall away.”

I snapped my fingers trying to make it sound less vague. “You could run into people long since dead, but now only exist as shadows of a memory. You could fight things that couldn’t possibly exist because the dreamer doesn’t know that they couldn’t exist… you could run into areas where gravity itself stops working!”

“Sort of like the Fae Realms?” Nadel asked as the others seemed to slowly nod…

The very fact that there could be something like this as an established recurring threat made me pray that they were horribly off… otherwise I might need to rethink if nuking the city was nearly as bad as an idea that I had originally thought.

“Why can’t she go?” Averia asked, pointing at The Stitch Witch “I mean…”

The Stitch Witch pressed her hand against the exit as there was a sound of what felt like glass grinding against a chalkboard as somehow it physically hurt just to hear it.

“I can not cross the threshold, but you have trinkets to allow you to hunt those whose blood you have marked.” The Stitch Witch replied before pulling out two vials of blood “One is the dreamer that this realm is attached to. The other is the Heir who’s connection to the Witch’s Legacies and the Hill has allowed this place to continue to exist.”

She motioned to the vampires “You need ink for your art… and they have the supplies you need. Bleed them, cook them, do whatever you wish as their lives have been made forfeit by their actions.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the council… or someone close to them?” I asked before glancing at the half-elf “Your father did something to interfere with an attack in your sleep. Can’t we ask him for help?”

“No. His presence is needed within the church as another… guest shall be arriving their today.” The Stitch Witch spoke letting us know that this ‘guest’ wasn’t going to be good “It would be best for the Fae to stay in their spot.”

“To keep everyone alive… or to die?” Averia asked, clearly distrustful of the witch.

The Stitch Witch chuckled “Does it matter? Akara seeks to end the Magician’s life. Shouldn’t your father repay the ‘insult’ that one has committed to you last night?”

She glanced at me “As for the council? They are being interrogated by Nyte. Do you think he wouldn’t take notice of someone blatantly breaking the Fourth Law? That they wouldn’t try to seed this area with ash and flame to ensure it is culled rather than to cut the ones upholding this realm?”

“She wants Akara to interfere. The Fae to intervene and for Nyte to slay him or cut the reins he has over the Heir he controls.” Nadel slowly added near the end “As long as they are debating Akara thinks you are trying to convince them to do something ‘stupid’ and so long as Nyte isn’t making any big plays…”

“They shall lose face when the Fae have proven to be more honest to their word when Nyte’s former contractor attacks a church.” I muttered in bitter realization “If they find out about it... then they would try to prevent it… But if they do then Akara will still have one of the Heirs under his control.”

Best case? They murder Akara for his actions getting rid of someone who wants me dead. The rest of the city hunts down the remaining heir and life moves on.

Worst case? Akara doesn’t attack the church, gets bound by the ‘do not attack each other agreement’ while the Fae focus on him trying to figure out how to kill him. The only question is if it is before the meeting has ended or after the truce ends.

Something about his presence caused everyone within the magical community to recoil in fear and hatred… which made me wonder what exactly he had done to earn this sheer level of infamy.

Technically his heir owned the hill… and the hill made my hidden stash of less than legal or immediately useful ingredients into turn an entire vampire horde into neurotic blitzed sacks of ink ready to be bleed to death.

Vampires being turned into cattle and bleed for their blood.

That sounded like the Fairy Tale nonsense curse you’d hear from stories.

“If you succeed in this task than I may be able to have the council snip the chains off your wrist.” The Stitch Witch hinted “You can take the orb far away from the city and you will have no reason to prolong your stay… or for the Council to keep you here either.”

The deal sounded great… but this was Willow’s Hill… a cursed city named after a cursed hill where an egotistical old hag had the entire city named after her hill with a willow tree… and her own name.

Even if I had managed to survive this latest disaster then what was keeping me from getting bound to ‘Hill Guard Duty’ again since there was still a rogue heir running about?

“So who does the hill default to if the ‘missing heir’ kicks the bucket?” I asked while rubbing my own wrists “I mean does it default to me leaving me trapped here or…”

“It would go to the Half-elf or the one who fled to your misbegotten city.” The Stitch Witch stated “You are a male so Agatha would have you as the last pick. Averia failed her challenge on the night of the duel submitting to fear… which leaves Alexandria who is lost with Kornea as the one the deed would be shifted to.”

“Who Mr Hawkings rallied everyone to stand against.” Averia spoke “Leaving you as the one who ‘defeated the eldritch’ so that you can ‘graciously’ take control of the city in preparation for Alexandria’s attempt to solidify her claim over the hill.”

“Maybe if you slit both of their throats your chances might improve?” The Stitch Witch taunted “But since I can not enter the breach I am left to ask for your aid to prevent an eldritch abomination from tearing this entire city from this plane of existence… or are you too petty to aid the Magician in his task?”

“What’s the plan…” Averia spoke through a pained hiss of frustration

I glanced at the vampires “First we kill them and make ink. Once all of the vampires are dead and I’m brewing up pots I am going to want straight answers for once or I’ll take the risk and let Nyte know about this breach.”

The Stitch Witch glared at me “The city may suffer as countless will…”

I shouted letting her know I wasn’t having any of it “Perfectly acceptable losses as I’m pretty sure Nyte would allow your people to round up a few vampires and have them brainwash people into leaving the area on some semi-plausible excuse while they nuke this section of the city to dust and ash.”

She froze.

I held the cell phone with my finger on the speed dial button.

If I died Nyte would know. If I called he would know.

This was why Akara called me insane.

I was perfectly willing to call down eldritch chaos upon my own damn location if I thought it would improve the odds of my own survival.

“This dear granddaughter is why he is dangerous.” The Stitch Witch spoke in a clearly annoyed tone “He would burn the world around him and laugh if it achieved him victory.”

“Not ash. Ruin.” I spoke with a smirk “Far too many things are resistant to fire in my line of work.”