Chapter 29: Lost and Found.

Selene.

Walking into the living room after another fitful night sleep, Selene looked around the room. In the two days since they had visited Tomin’s, none of them had been quite the same. For Selene it was the nightmares. Every night she would dream of a Spook trying to eat her. She didn’t think it affected her quite that badly at the time, but the nightmares since seemed to be getting worse.

Sax didn’t seem too bothered afterward, but he started sticking to Tobi like a pet dog. It was hard for her to even get close to Tobi without Sax appearing no more than a foot away.

The Talin had been bothered by Tomin’s house too. He became wary of Tobi after they left and they weren’t speaking to each other as much as before. Selene had spoken to the Talin several times since, but the Talin couldn’t explain it either. Something about Tobi after he passed out had actually scared the Talin. Scared him enough to keep Tobi in his line of sight whenever the two were in the same room.

“Where is Tobi?” she asked the Talin. He was lay on the sofa with his eyes closed and his legs reaching over the arm to a table a little further away, but he wasn’t asleep. If he was planning to go to sleep at all, he went outside and slept under the open sky.

“Same place as always.” The Talin answered without moving.

She figured as much. The night—or rather morning considering the time—that they left Tomin’s house, Tobi crashed on a chair. When they all woke later that day, Tobi was gone. It had taken several more hours before the Talin found him. He was sitting on a post at the Northern Gate of the city.

He wasn’t doing anything in particular. The post was a former cornerstone to a wall that no longer existed. He was simply sat on it with his legs crossed and staring out into the wood beyond. They asked the guard how long he’d been there, but they didn’t know. Their shift had started just a few hours earlier and Tobi had been there the entire time.

Only returning to the house at mealtimes, Tobi spent all of his time at the post. He replied to Selene whenever she spoke to him, but other than that, he didn’t speak to her at all. He didn’t speak to anyone.

“I am going to go see him. Would you like to walk with me?”

The Talin shook his head, “Until Tobi’s mind is right again, I want to stay away from him.”

Selene nodded, more to herself than the Talin that wasn’t even looking. She knew there was no point in discussing it further, she’d already tried everything. Asking why he was afraid, what he expected Tobi to do, what was wrong with Tobi — and any other question that came to mind.

The Talin didn’t have any answers though. The closest thing to an answer she got was a story about a Talin chief. A story of how a Talin lost his mind during battle and started killing his own tribe. Tobi, apparently, was showing the same signs of madness and the Talin didn’t want to have to kill him when his mind finally snapped.

Of course Selene didn’t expect that to happen at all, but the Talin was stubborn and wouldn’t listen to reason. As far as the Talin was concerned, Tobi was just as capable of losing his mind as anyone else.

Worded like that, Selene couldn’t argue either.

“Well, I am going to see him anyway…”—it’s a damn sight better than staying here with my nightmares…

Slamming the door as she walked out, Selene took a breath of morning air and looked down the street. The quickest route to the North Gates was through the side alleys in a zigzag fashion, but the safer route was sticking to the 2 main streets. She didn’t particularly mind the shorter route when alone, but somehow she felt guilty doing anything that could put her in danger. If Tobi was in his right state of mind, he would definitely shout at her for walking the side streets alone.

I am tempted to go that way anyway, just to see if he gets mad at me for it…

Despite the empty threats she gave herself, she didn’t really have any intention of walking the side streets alone. They always managed to stay shadowed somehow and her thoughts would inevitably turn back to Tomin’s hallway and the Spook. At the same time, she spotted Romun standing there and staring right at her.

Turning on her heel, she walked straight down the main street at a brisk pace. The weird creep was always following her these days. He didn’t go inside the house anymore, but if he ever looked out of the window, he would be right there—looking right back at her.

Romun wasn’t the only problem anymore either. The day they had searched for Tobi she had visited Bernie’s to see if she had seen him. She hadn’t, but she did have some other news for her. Three mages had been hanging around the place and asking about both her and Tobi.

Bernie didn’t know whether the mages were from Anderon or not, but she had met at least one of them and he was definitely born in Lybernia.

With the Talin’s help, she had kept watched on the store for a while until one of the men appeared. He had dark skin and an auburn robe. From that moment on, she decided not to go back to Bernie’s Spindles. With no idea what they wanted, she chose to stay out of their way. That’s why she now wore regular clothes instead of her usual Priestess robe.

Tobi was the same, but for a different reason. His robe had been pretty badly damaged by the strange Spirit Mage that shown himself so it was no longer in a state for wearing. She did get around to fixing it the next day, but Tobi continued wearing casual clothes.

Looking back down the street as she turned the corner, Selene confirmed that Romun was still following. No matter how fast she walked or even if she ran and turned corners, Romun was never far behind.

Nightmares, Romun, strange mages, a moody Talin, a Novali warrior obsessed with my boyfriend and the man himself spending all of his time sitting by alone on the outskirts of town… My life is really turning to shit!

Nodding politely in response to the few people who recognized her and gave greeted her, Selene glanced back once more. Romun dodged around the people effortlessly and kept the distance even at all times. She didn’t know what he wanted or why he always followed her, but she couldn’t even get Darien to get him to stop. Darien had visited the house just once after the fight at Tomin’s and nobody seen or heard from him since.

Feeling as though it would be better if she just returned to Anderon, Selene sighed and forged ahead. The gates weren’t much further and Romun would disappear as soon as Tobi was in view. He would reappear again when Tobi was gone, but the brief respite from Romun couldn’t come quick enough.

The only time her nightmares and Romun stopped bothering her was when Tobi was close by. She wanted him to hurry up and snap out of whatever was bothering him. If it didn’t happen soon, she really was considering to head back to Anderon.

---

Calamity

“You’re going to kill that horse at this rate!” Lorry shouted over the wind.

Pulling on the reigns a little, Calamity wondered if the horse really would collapse. She had really put it through its paces for the past two days. Of course, she blamed Lorry for all of it.

“You’re the one that said we would be there by now.” she countered, letting the horse slow down a little more.

Her original plan had been to sail straight to Chadú. As far as distance went, it wasn’t that much further from Gilleous to Chadú as Cohol to Chadú. The problem was the ship. It was probably the slowest merchant vessel in the entire harbor, so naturally it ended up being the one she boarded.

While she was offline passing the messages of Tobi’s letters to her parents—or at least writing those messages down and leaving them next to the phone—she logged back in to find out Lorry had changed their course. They were sailing to a fishing village instead.

According to the crew on the ship, the fishing village was directly East of Gilleous and would take only a day to get there. It was almost 24 Aevitas hours before they finally docked.

Lorry’s plan after that was to get some horses and ride South to Chadú. The ride should only take 2 days.

Except there were no damned horses in the fishing village! Only major cities owned stables where you could rent horses, and it came with an agreement to leave them at the stables of the next city you arrived in. Calamity didn’t know what happened after that, but it was a game, so it was probably just part of the programing and everything was linked together somehow.

Lorry disagreed with her logic and tried to explain, but it mostly went over her head. According to him, the horses would be returned home and the stable master that returned them would receive a commission for his efforts. Or if he was lucky, he could rent them out to a Traveler who would return them for him. That’s why some Stable Masters would let you take cheaper rides to certain places; and why those places changed prices at random.

Calamity really didn’t care, she just wanted to hurry up and get to Chadú. The next city was a day and a half walk North, but that would mean 3 day’s riding south again. It worked out quicker in the longer run, but Calamity was not impressed at all.

If it wasn’t for Lorry striking a deal with a farmer not far away, she may have lost her rag completely.

They agreed to wipe out ‘a pest problem’ that was affecting his crops in exchange for 2 of his mares. She didn’t want to waste time doing a stupid low level quest, by that she meant a level 40 and up quest, but it was their only method of getting horses quickly.

The so-called ‘pest problem’ turned out to be an infestation of fire ants. The level 40 insects had the stats of a level 60 warrior and that was just the drones. To fully deal with the problem, they had to enter the nest and kill the Queen.

No matter how much higher their levels were, dealing with a colony of ants was no easy task. Especially considering they had no healer to help.

Six hours into the quest and only a third of the way into the anthill, Calamity finally lost her patience. She ran through the colony throwing out a constant stream of aggro taunts. When she reached the halfway point, she slaughtered them as fast as she could and collected the meat drops.

After cooking some food and eating it, she did the same again: She ran through the colony throwing out taunts until she was 75% of the way through the colony.

She repeated the process until they were outside the main chamber. The boss room. By that time, Lorry was dead on his feet and complaining. The list of names he called her included monster, demon, witch, devil and various other inhuman creatures that didn’t acknowledge their own limits.

Once they reached the Queen, Calamity no longer knew why it was considered a level 40 and up quest. The Soldier ants were level 55 and the Queen was level 70. Even with a full party, it was easily a 3 week or more dungeon.

For a recently turned level 103 Bounty Hunter and a level 101 Unholy Assassin (which she had learned was Lorry’s class shortly after they entered the dungeon), the colony only ended up taking a day. That had all been Calamities doing though. Without her reckless running and throwing out taunts, it would have taken days to reach the queen.

She couldn’t discredit Lorry completely though. Every time he caught up to her and attacked the ants from behind, the speed at which they were massacred tripled. Head to head, her damage was double Lorry’s. When he used a back attack though, his damaged was almost triple hers.

It was completely unfair.

And then he would use a skill unique to his class. Unlike normal assassins, he had holy skills in his list of abilities that could let him regain some health when he succeeded in critical hits.

More often than not, Lorry finished his fights with full health. Meanwhile, she had been a badly beaten up meat shield that had to stop, rest and eat.

By time the Queen was defeated and they had returned to the farmer, enough time had passed that they could have walked to the city in the North, hired two horses and rode at least that far back.

A completely ridiculous situation.

“I see it!” Lorry suddenly called.

Calamities head snapped up as she looked through the trees. The city was still a bit ahead, but even she could see the famous statue. It was based in the center of the city and represented the mother of the Gods. She could see the tips of her wings through gaps in the trees ahead.

Even if the horse died, Calamity no longer cared. She would run the rest of the way if she had to.

“Come on! Giddy up!”

“Giddy up? Really?” Lorry called back as he also urged the horse into a gallop.

---

Darien

Pulling the hood further over his head, Darien approached the house of his latest client. Work had been extra busy lately with the tournament approaching and he had to take on some of the jobs himself. His latest job was a relatively simple one but it had still caused him a few problems.

Feeling as though he was getting rusty from the lack of practice, Darien walked up the steps and knocked on the door. He didn’t have to wait long before the slave answered and let him inside.

“The master will be down shortly.” The slave told him, escorting Darien into a waiting room filled with various animal trophies.

Darien didn’t bother replying, he didn’t really care. Other than getting the fee for his work, there was another problem Darien wanted solved.

The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from upstairs, quickly moving across the landing before rushing down the stairs. Seconds later, a small, portly man burst into the room and stared at Darien.

“Did you get it?” He panted in excitement.

“I did,” Darien replied, pulling an odd necklace from his back pocket and showing it to the man.

The greed in the man’s eyes could be seen easily. He practically drooled as he rushed forward to grab it.

Taking a simple side-step, Darien moved out of his way and kept the necklace out of his reach. He didn’t know what was so important about the item that the man would pay 50 Gold for its retrieval, but the man Darien stole it from was no ordinary person either.

“I can see this is important to you,” Darien said as he put the necklace back in his pocket, “but I don’t want your money.”

The man hesitated and glanced toward the door he had just entered through. Darien followed his gaze curiously and smiled. His face was hidden by the hood so his expression couldn’t be seen, but he knew what the man was thinking. He was wondering if he could call his slaves in and take it from Darien by force.

After he seemed to decide against it, he asked Darien what he wanted. If only the man knew who he was speaking to, his would have never dared using such a commanding tone.

“A short while ago, one of Darien’s men was found dead on the roof of a house. The owner has since gone missing and the guards are still looking for him…”

“Yes? I know it. What about it? Does your boss want them to stop looking? Captain Horst is in charge of that, but I can still arrange it.”

Darien shook his head, “I don’t want your contacts in the guard. I have my own. It is the house I want.”

The man frowned and slowly began to shake his head, “I don’t understand.”

“According to the city, that house belonged to Jarod Hunt, but that isn’t true. He owned it in name, but the house actually belonged to somebody else. Now that Jarod has disappeared, the real owner is unable to lay claim to the house. He wants it back.”

“Who is the real owner?”

“That isn’t your concern. If you want this necklace, you need to write up some false documents claiming Jarod sold the house prior to his disappearance.”

The man shook his head and backed away, “I can’t do that. If it is discovered, I will be executed.”

Darien nodded and turned to leave.

“Wait! 100 Gold! I will pay 100 Gold for the necklace.”

Darien hesitated and took the necklace back out of his pocket. No matter how he looked at it, the necklace appeared to be nothing more than what it was. A gold chain worth little more than 3 Gold with a sapphire pendant at the end. There were no magical properties or stat bonuses attached...it wasn’t even enchanted like most jewellery was. Why he was willing to pay so much money for it piqued his interest.

“The man that purchased the house of Jarod Hunt is an Anderonian by the name of Dillinger. If you write the receipt to say he purchased that house the same day Jarod Hunt went missing, I will make sure you receive this necklace in compensation.”

“Does this Dillinger fellow have any other names? How will I contact you when it is done?”

Darien hesitated. The person that made up the name Dillinger was Tobi, not himself. He’d never really had much naming sense, so thinking up a full name was difficult. That had been why he used Jarod Hunts name in the first place. It was easier to use a name that existed than making one up.

A name that exists?

Darien smiled. The man he had stolen the necklace from had a baby boy called Dominic.

“Dominic Dillinger. He paid 22,000 Gold for Jarod’s house the same day the body was found on Jarod’s roof.”

“And what do I say when I am asked why he is only claiming it now?”

“Make something up.” Darien snapped, “Maybe you were too busy to deal with it until recently. With the tournament and everything coming up, you had better things to do than deal with some stupid foreigner.”

The man flinched at first, but as he listened to Darien’s ‘excuse’, he started to think about it and nod along, “It will be done. But please, keep the necklace safe. I will have it ready in a couple of days.”

Smiling beneath the shadow of his hood, Darien turned and left. He knew the old man would be useful. It was half of why he took the job himself.

---

Tobi

Staring out at the trees, Tobi felt the familiar numbness in his ass. It came on a lot quicker than it did the day before. Rather than getting used to sitting like that, it seemed he was succumbing to the pain much quicker each time. The perch really wasn’t that great to begin with. The small square could just about fit him there with his legs crossed, but he kind of like it just the same.

In truth, he only really sat on it because it didn’t seem to belong there.

Why would the cornerstone of a wall remain standing when the rest of the wall had long since been destroyed? He couldn’t even make out where the wall used to be anymore—the wild had already reclaimed that part of the land.

As he didn’t feel like he belonged there either, he felt it was the best place for him to be.

Originally he only went for a walk while everyone was sleeping. He even wore normal clothes to help prevent people from recognizing him—just to be on the safe side. Really needing to clear his head, he’d left alone without anyone where he was going.

Not that he had any special place in mind to begin with.

Half the day had passed before he found his way to the North Gate and found the stone pillar. The sight had been a distraction and he simply stared at it for a while before climbing on it and using it for a seat.

His newfound perch seemed to calm him for a while; staring out at the trees without a care in the world. So much time passed afterward without him realizing, it came as a surprise when the sky started to darken and Selene appeared in front of him with the Talin and Sax in tow.

She was pissed, to say the least.

That had been a couple of days ago though. The same day they left Tomin’s house. Tobi sat on his little perch for 2 more days after that and he was now beginning the start of day 3.

This view isn’t actually that bad… Tobi told himself as he started into the shadowed wood in front of him. The road out of the North Gate turned right shortly after leaving the city and followed the wall for a while before turning North again. The guard had told him it was due to the coastline up ahead, but it didn’t really matter. It made the view from the gate that much better.

The view was only a distraction though. Tobi’s mind since Tomin’s house seemed plagued. Thoughts on his life and what he was doing troubled him greatly. He’d been so content to live as a baker until he was freed from this world, and now he was in a completely different country and he didn’t even have a good reason for being there.

When had his life run away without him?

The bigger question though, had come during his state of apathy: He had questioned why he was there. The question itself was more than the words implied. To some degree, it was the fundamental question that plagued humanity since creation.

Why are we here?

What are we?

Why do we exist?

What is the purpose of life?

On a less drastic level, those were the questions he asked himself. Ultimately, it boiled down to a single question: ‘What am I doing?’

When he sailed from Cohol, he felt he had a goal. During his apathetic state, he felt he had lost that goal and was merely wandering aimlessly. No purpose, no goal, no point in existing...no life.

He may be trapped in this world, but he had no intention of giving up a life. No matter where he found himself, Tobi was determined to live his life to the fullest. That didn’t mean having great adventures and becoming the world’s greatest though. It simply meant he would live as freely and joyously as he could for as long as he could.

At some point along his travels, he had clearly lost sight of that and it troubled him deeply.

Among the other questions that started to bother him, Tobi wondered about the Divine Spell he used; Spirit Surge. He read the information window about it, but it only explained a couple of things.

Spirit Surge:

A third tier Divine spell that shows it power against anything that exists within the spiritual planes. Includes creatures such as Zombies, Spooks, Skeletons, Liches and other beings related to the dead and undead.

This spell is greatly influenced by the will of the caster.

Requires 150 Piety to cast and an affinity with Divinity.

Mana: 500

Damage: 500-2000

This spell will consume 50% of the casters energy. If the consumed energy exceeds 30% of the caster’s maximum energy, there is a 100% chance the caster will lose consciousness.

Possible Side Effects:

10% Chance all allies within the area of effect will be blessed with holy power: 5 minutes.

10% Chance the caster will succumb to absolute Apathy: Time of status varies.

80% Chance no side effect will occur.

This spell can only be used once per day.

Although it answered his question for what happened to him—both losing consciousness and his weird behaviour afterward—it didn’t explain other things that happened in the hallway that night.

The possessed child for example: Selene’s Divine Retribution spell seemed to exorcise the spirit, but his Spirit Surge hadn’t affected the possessed child at all. Not that he knew of at least. He even asked Sax about it when the question came to mind. If the spell was supposed to affect all undead and spirits and the like—shouldn’t it have affected the possessed child?

Then there was the question of notifications...or God’s Window, as normal people called it.

The notification about Stitches had appeared, but his other notifications hadn’t. He already knew about the battle state that stopped messages from appearing, but he couldn’t quite work out what counted as a battle state.

The question came to mind when he thought of the wizard ghost. He wasn’t engaged in battle at all but the notifications didn’t appear until he commanded them to. The only conclusion he could come to was that the possessed child was still engaging him in battle, while at the same time...the ghost in control of the body, wasn’t engaging him in battle.

It didn’t really make sense, but that was the only solution he could think of.

Sighing out of frustration—his thoughts getting him nowhere—Tobi hopped down from his seat and began pacing. His ass was so numb at that point he felt he was walking with a penguins waddle and had to massage his own butocks as he walked.

I refuse to give up… Tobi told himself as the thought of giving up came to mind. It would be easy to head back to Cohol and just live a normal life, but that’s not what he wanted. He knew it for a fact. What’s the point in finding yourself in a world with Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, Talin, Basilisks and who knew what else...if your only ambition was to live a normal life?

Tobi refused.

I can’t deny I am getting fed up of this place though. The people looking at me with eyes full of doubt everytime I turn around. First asking if I really am ‘Gods Chosen’ and then asking if that’s just for the 12 Gods of Anderon or Chadú too. Not even stopping to wonder if it also includes Gods of other races and places.

Well, I guess I can’t blame them for that, but its not like I wanted to be a damn prophet in the first place. If I’d known this would happen, I would have never messed with the Priests and told them when the Travelers would disappear or when they would return.

Naming Selest too. What even compelled me to do that? Just because I didn’t want to refer to her as ‘The Unnamed One’? And Selene. Why did the Gods even let me give her a name? I was only using the name as a way of calling out to her instead of shouting ‘Oi’ or ‘Acolyte’

Tobi sighed again. He’d already thought the same thing several times before. That’s how his mind had been ever since he left Tomin’s: turning in circles, playing the same stuff over and over and never reaching the final conclusion.

At least I figured out what Sax was hiding. I am probably an idiot for not realizing straight away. If I was in their shoes, I would probably do the same thing. Who wouldn’t? Someone comes along claiming to be a Prophet and speaks to the people in one of your religious buildings...of course you send someone to investigate them. Well, Sax is a good guy at least so it doesn’t matter if he reports back to the Novali now and then. As long as he doesn’t tell them things he isn’t supposed to. I really should make sure to have a chat with him later.

Hm. I could tell Sax that Chadú told me of his plans to report back to the Novali. That would probably work. Unless I am just being paranoid and he isn’t reporting back at all…

Glancing over at Sax who stood leaning against the city wall and watching him at all times, Tobi shook his head and decided to talk to Sax later. He knew his thoughts were getting him nowhere fast, just like he knew his strange behaviour was having an affect on Selene and the Talin. He couldn’t put his mind to rest though.

Ultimately it came down to ‘What am I doing’ and ‘What do I want to do’, but neither of those questions offered any answers.

Sitting on the crass and leaning against the piece of broken wall, he picked up a twig and started scratching at the dirt.

What do I want to do?

The question seemed pretty straight forward and it wasn’t like nothing came to mind. In fact, a lot of things came to mind. Meet the Elves was always the first thing that came to mind. Elves didn’t exist in his home world so it was like adding something to his bucket list.

Find out what is written in the Diary of Ellenestri came to mind a few times too, but that was a passing thought that didn’t have the same importance as it once did. He didn’t even know what language it was written in so he could end up struggling with that one until he knew every language in the world.

Find out if the Gods really existed was on his list of things to do as well. That too was a passing thought. He didn’t even know when he started caring about the Gods. When Selene first started to accompany him, it was to teach him about the Gods. But had the idea been his or hers? He couldn’t remember.

He certainly hadn’t recruited her to be his representative, he knew that. So why did he now try recruiting a follower of Chadú? Why was it important to get Sax to be his representative?

The only answer he had was the notification he received on the Beach of Cohol. It claimed he did something that made the 12 happy. That had the adverse effect of making the other Gods unhappy. It was the first time he cared what someone else thought.

Screw the Gods… he told himself, scratching out the word ‘Gods’ that he had scratched into the dirt.

In fact. Screw them all. Darien with his men following me all the time...as if I can’t see them hiding in the shadows and alleyways. Horst too. As if I haven’t noticed various guards watching me so they can report back to him. I know it is him too; he is the only one that knows I have met with Darien and made a deal with him.

Screw this tournament thing to. Makes no fuckin’ sense to begin with. Who the hell lets something like chess decide who can marry their daughter? The other aspects of the tournament are just as retarded. The only ones that are interesting are the sword-fighting, melee, magical duels and archery.

Of course, he couldn’t fully ignore the tournament due to his promise of dealing with slavery. Lord Baylon or whatever his name was had plans to end slavery. It was Tobi’s best chance of fulfilling his promise and he actually felt like it was something he was supposed to do. Almost as if something was pulling the strings that affected his life and forced him to become involved in the whole affair.

Well, if something wants me to act like their pawn, they have another thing coming…

---

Darien

Making his way back to the Sand and Stone Tavern, Darien turned down another alley and waited. He had sensed someone following him shortly after he left his client’s house and it grew stronger every minute. He’d tried to spot who was following him several times but nobody stood out.

After a few minutes passed and nobody appeared from around the corner, Darien wondered if he was just imagining it. Ever since he had fought those weird creatures in Tomin’s house he had been struggling with paranoia.

In the past, paranoia had saved his life. On many occasions. Right at that moment though, it was interfering with his business.

Deciding to use the sewers despite being out of his territory, Darien jogged down to the next alley where one of the entrances was located. The moment he closed the gap behind him and was swallowed by the darkness, he instantly felt safer. The sewers had been his home for almost a year when he first got his enterprise started and it still felt like home now.

Back then, the sewers had been a foul smelling place and even now it produced the occasional bad smells, but since he had started using it for his business, the city’s sewage problem had been solved. The entire city had benefited from his actions in the sewers. In the past eight years, not a single disease had been caused by poor sanitation.

He felt kind of proud of that fact. As much the hero as the villain. It had been done for selfish reasons though, so it was just a happy side effect rather than a result caused by design.

Putting a left hand on the wall to help guide him through the darkness, Darien activated his stealth skill and made his way forward. The trick to using the sewers largely depending on following the lights that entered through the manholes up ahead. Only those that knew the location of every manhole and a full plan of the city could fully utilize the sewers.

After passing 3 manholes of light, Darien let go of the wall and edged forward, inch by inch. Pushing his right foot across the floor slightly ahead of him, he continued until his foot met the edge of the path. His location was a crossroads so he had to drop into the sewage bed and walk to the other side, climb up and make his way to the next wall. After that his trip would be easier.

Climbing up onto the path on the opposite side, he edged forward once more until he found the wall.

As soon as his hand touched the wall, he froze. The feeling that he was being followed returned. His stealth was still active though and nobody should be able to see him. Turning back and looking at the distant light coming through a manhole, Darien waited to see if a shadow passed through.

The sense of being followed didn’t stop. It got to the point where the feeling seemed to be right on top of him.

Shivers running up his spine and tingling the hairs on the back of his neck, he put his back to the wall and waited.

Nothing.

The feeling was still there though and the alarms in his head were screaming at him.

Darien looked up. The only place the person could be if they weren’t with him in the sewer was the street above.

How are they following me?

Panicked, Darien rushed down the path ahead. His fingers barely scraped the wall as he all but ran to the next corner.

As his fingers broke from the sudden end of the wall, he skidded to a stop and tried to stop himself from falling forward. He wasn’t sure how much further ahead he had to go until the drop, but he didn’t plan on going that direction anyway.

Moving back a little until he found the wall, he turned down the new path and rushed forward once more. This time he moved a little slower, but the speed would still count as a light jog.

When he came to the next opening back to the street. Darien climbed out as quickly as he could and ran. The Sand and Stone Tavern had a wall that opened between the cellar and the sewer, just like Tomin’s, but he had sealed it five years ago after his fight against Kleetz. Thanks to that fact, he now had to run the remaining four streets in order to reach his destination.

Feeling as though he had gained a fair bit of distance from his pursuer, Darien finally slowed down and started to breath.

Regaining his breath a little, he walked into the Tavern and dropped his hood. The barman gave a simple nod as their eyes locked before returning to his endless job of polishing a dirty glass. No matter when Darien entered the Tavern, the barman would always be using the same dirty cloth to wipe a dirty pint glass. The only exception being when the man actually served someone a beer.

“Nobody comes up.” Darien called to the man as he slipped behind the bar and turned through to the back. The barman didn’t respond but then, he never did really.

Taking the stairs at the back two and three at a time, Darien rushed to the room he used as a safe-house and went to the window. Pulling the curtain back, he looked down into the street below. Everything appeared to be normal.

“I must admit, you’re better than we thought you would be.”

Darien spun on the spot, a dagger in each hand before he even finished turning around. Two men were standing just inside his door with a hulking shadow behind them.

Crouching through the doorway before returning to his full height, the third figure lifted off his hood and looked back at Darien.

Feeling as though the room had just grown smaller, Darien stared back. The figure was almost as big as the Talin, but he was definitely human. His white pearly skin seemed to be made of chalk and his pink eyes lacked emotion, but human he was—and Darien knew exactly who he was dealing with.

“How did you know we were following you?” The smaller figure on the right asked as he too dropped his hood. He appeared to be around 30 but his face still had a certain level of youth and his smile was as playful as it was mischievous.

Darien didn’t reply as he watched the man move to the side of the room and open a book lying on the nearby table.

The silence stretched on and none of them moved at all. When the youthful looking man finished flipped through pages and he closed the book, he looked back to Darien and smiled.

“You don’t have to answer, I was just curious is all. Nobody has ever noticed us following before. You’re probably the hardest man to follow we have ever come across.”

“And yet I didn’t notice you enter my room.” Darien replied, less force in his voice than he had tried to use. The Albino in the doorway was exerting more pressure than Darien was used to handling.

“Ah. That was my doing. When you started to run, we knew you were onto us, so I used a few abilities of my own. I will tell you what my ability is if you tell me what yours is.”

“My ability?”

The man nodded, “How you knew we were following. Even when you were under the ground. That one caught us by surprise, let me tell you. We were just standing where you should be and yet... you weren’t there.”

Darien frowned. As far as he knew, there was no ability that let you track people like that.

“I have a knack for knowing when I am entering a trap or being followed. Like intuition, I guess. Everyone get’s it. That feeling of being watched. For me, it is just a little bit stronger than what people normally feel.”

“A passive skill?” The youth whistled, “Now that really is impressive. Well, I guess you told me your trick, so I will tell you mine.”

“I don’t care how you managed to sneak up on me,” Darien interrupted, “people have managed that before. How were you able to track me?”

“Ah. That.”

Darien watched as the youth pulled something from his pocket. Whatever it was had been wrapped in a dark cloth.

As the man pulled it off, Darien found himself looking at a golden orb. After a moment passed, the orb shifted before spinning in the palm of his hand. When the orb finished rotating, a crystal clear eye stared directly back at him.

“Move around. Watch what it does.”

Darien complied and walked across the room. Wherever he moved, the eye followed.”

“Amazing, right? It can follow anyone as long as it has seen them once. But it can only follow one person at a time. It took us a long time to get it to lock onto you. It has to see you before it can start tracking you.”

“So when it starts tracking someone else, does it have to see me again before it can start tracking me again?”

“That’s right.” The man answered, adding a nod to the response before covering the eye back up and putting it away again, “Sadly, it can only follow people...otherwise we wouldn’t have needed to come and see you.”

“So you’re not here to kill me?” Darien asked in surprise. Knowing who they were meant he had fully expected his death at any minute. His entire chat had only been a method of buying time while he tried to figure a way to escape. His only thought was to jump from the window, but that wouldn’t have let him get away.

“Kill you?” The man laughed, “I am more tempted to recruit you. A man of your skill and talent could be useful. But no, we’re not here to kill you. We want to hire you.”

“For what? I don’t see what I can help with that you and your people can’t solve without me.”

“You and your people…” the man echoed, “You know who we are?”

Darien hesitated, “I know who the Albino is and what group he belongs to.”

“That makes things simpler. It means you won’t try anything foolish. Sadly, we do need some help on this occasion. We need someone who knows the city and the people. Who better than King of the Sewers?”

Hearing the sarcastic derision in the man’s voice, Darien’s anger flared but he quelled it quickly.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Find a man named Lorry. Do not attack him. Just tell us where he is and we will handle it. Even if you went after him with half of your men, you would probably just get yourselves killed. There are a few ways to find him. He will be carrying a Brooch that belongs to our order. That’s how we have tracked him to this city. Unfortunately, he is masking its properties somehow so we can’t pinpoint his location. He is definitely in this city somewhere though. The brooch looks like this:”

Darien looked at the brooch tossed onto his table. It didn’t look like anything too special. Cheap and tacky. Easy to recognize again though.

“The name Lorry and a Brooch isn’t much to go on…” Darien noted.

“He is known as Lorry the Merciless. He is an Assassin and has darker skin than most Anderonians. He would blend in here better than most places. He isn’t quite as dark as true Lybernians, but plenty here have skin as light as his. That’s all the information we have, can you do it?”

A brooch that looks like that, belongs to the Assassin class, the name Lorry, looks like he is half Lybernian and is somewhere in this city. I have found people with less information…—“Yes, I believe I can. How high up my priority list should this be?”

The man dropped a pouch of money on the table.

Opening the pouch slightly with a finger, Darien looked inside. Every coin that he could see was gold. He couldn’t even guess how much was there. Hundreds at least.

“I see. In that case, I will get right on it. I have a question though; if you are after him and he knows how to mask the tracking ability of the brooch, why didn’t he just throw the brooch away?”

The man tapped his finger on the table several times, “That has been bothering us too. He took the Brooch off one of our men after he killed him and headed south to Cohol. We believe he headed to the Mage Guild and had them mask it for him. Then he came to this city. Well, the rest is our business. Take the brooch with you. When you find him, snap it in half.”

---

Tobi

Feeling much better than he had earlier, Tobi sat back in the sun and let the warmth wash over him. His thoughts were still troubling him, but worrying wasn’t getting him anywhere and stressing about it didn’t solve anything either.

Hadn’t he answered his own questions if he thought about it?

What was he doing?

Acting how others expected him to act.

What was he going to do?

Stop acting how people expected him to act and take control of his own life again. At least as much as he could. He would finish the stupid tournament thing that made no sense, but not for Darien. He would find this Lord Baylon guy and offer to be his champion. If Baylon won, it could mean an end to slavery—which will make Selene happy. If Baylon didn’t want his help, he would just leave the city and go to see the Elves. That in itself might help with his plan of solving the Diary of Ellenestri problem. She was an Elven God, so maybe they knew how to translate it. Beyond that, what purpose did he need? An almighty villain to pursue and defeat? That might be the case for normal travellers, but all he wanted was to experience life and enjoy it. Not become the world’s hero.

Resolved in his vague idea of what he should do about his future, he included thoughts of Selene and the Talin. He was hoping both would accompany him, but not for the sense of achieving anything special. Just friends travelling together around the world.

Or in the case of Selene and himself, it would be as a couple, rather than simply friends.

He wasn’t sure about Sax though. At first Sax had been sent by the Novali. He had worked that much out and he was convinced. Something changed at Tomin’s though. It had been the same for all of them. The change was subtle, but definitely there. The way Sax looked at him had changed and the way he acted had changed too.

Deciding he would let the situation with Sax play out on its own and decide later, Tobi pushed himself up from the floor and dusted himself off.

Turning at the sound of thundering hooves break through the treeline down the road, Tobi was surprised to see there was only two riders. The speed they shot out of the trees and turned toward the city gate was crazy. It wasn’t that the horses were that fast, it was simply the fact that they didn’t slow down.

As Tobi continued to watch, archers on the wall readied their bows and the guards and the gate became alert. The horse in the lead appeared to be a woman in warriors armor. Hot on her trail though was a man dressed in dark leather, a veil covering the bottom half of his face and the hood managing to stay covering his head.

Assassin?

Unable to believe the assassin was still chasing her despite the proximity to the city, Tobi took a slight step forward. Any second now the warrior girl in front would round the corner and enter the city, at that point, the Assassin would have no choice but to give up the chase. Providing the guards and archers don’t shoot him before it gets that far.

Staring at the woman and urging her to ride faster, Tobi’s mind blanked. She was smiling!

Unable to work out what he was seeing, the woman suddenly looked at him. Their eyes locked and her smile disappeared. The horse slowed slightly before she spurred it on again. She didn’t appear to be running away from the Assassin anymore. In fact, she appeared to have completely forgotten about him as her attention fixed entirely on Tobi.

Taking a step back, Tobi had an incredible urge to run. Sax seemed to sense the trouble too as he grabbed both shields and started running toward Tobi.

The woman spotted Sax running over and turned her eyes back to Tobi. Her eyes gleamed and the smile returned.

The woman got there first. It wasn’t even close. She reached down and lifted Tobi as though he weighed nothing. Before he could even think to dodge he’d already been thrown over her lap and was being carried off toward the trees.

He knew instantly her strength and agility were miles above his own. Nobody could move that fast or easily in reality. And nobody could lift him that easily without a great deal of strength. Despite that, he had no intention of being her kidnap victim.

Gathering mana in his hand, Tobi planted his palm into her stomach and released his signature spell; Arcane strike. He knew her couldn’t do too much damage to her. Even as a mage against a warrior, which in most ways worked in his favor...her level was clearly too high for him to deal with.

The spell still worked though and she was blast from the horse. As an added bonus, she even got trampled slightly by the horses chasing them.

The downside was that the horse threw Tobi off too and dealt 50 health worth of fall damage.

The assassin slowed and turned his horse. After looking from Tobi to the woman, he shook his head slowly and hopped down. The woman didn’t stay down for long though and was soon dusting herself off as though nothing happened.

“Are you ok?” The assassin asked.

The woman looked back at him for a moment before her eyes snapped back to Tobi’s. He took an involuntary step back but there was no point in trying to run, he knew that much already. Knocked off a horse by magic, trampled by another horse and then getting up with just bruises?

He was so dead.

“What’s your level?” The woman asked.

“Er...what?” Tobi replied, confused by the odd question.

“What is your level? I need to know how hard I can hit you without killing you. All that time I spent looking for you and then you go and do that to me.”

“Looking for me? And it’s …” Pausing as his mind ticked over, Tobi took a closer look at the woman. Her features were different and she was now as tall as him, but they were definitely similar. The voice too, it was almost exactly how he remembered it, “Lucy?”

The woman smiled back. Her movements in the next second were so quick it was almost as though she teleported. She was in front of him and hugging him in no time at all.

“I knew you would recognize me! Even mom didn’t recognize until I told her it was me.”

Crushed by her strength and struggling to breath, Tobi tried to get his mind around the sudden development and pushed her back.

After staring at her for a good few seconds, keeping her at a perfect arm’s length while he did, Tobi finally accepted what he was seeing before quickly stepping in and hugging her with all 75 stats worth of his pitiful strength.

Her hug in response was much weaker this time and far more emotional. Even Tobi felt some of what she was feeling.

“How did you find me?” Tobi finally asked when they broke apart.

“Your letter, duh.”

“But that was only a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t even expect the letter to reach Ardene yet.”

“It didn’t. I was in Gilleous and a man heard I was in town by chance. He came and found me and gave me the letter. Mom and Dad have the letters too, but I gave them the message in real life. They’re still in Anderon somewhere. They are going to meet your girlfriend on the way here.”

“Girlfriend?” Tobi echoed, confused.

“Yeah. Niamh, remember? I know it’s been longer for you than us, but you still remember her, right?”

“Niamh…” Tobi breathed as distant memories of her surfaced. Unlike normal, the usual feelings of love, loss, regret, pain and anger didn’t surface; just an image of her sat on her bed, “Niamh isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Sorry… I forgot. Fiancé.”

Tobi shook his head, “She isn’t my fiancé either. We broke up.”

“She doesn’t seem to think so. She phones the house almost every day for news about you. Even after the servers opened, she phones at the same time every day. She’s mum’s new gossip buddy.”

As the assassin returned with Lucy’s horse, Tobi realized that he hadn’t even noticed the man leave. Figuring he was probably a Traveler too, he gave the assassin a simple nod and looked back at Lucy, “Niamh is the one that ended it. She left me for someone else.”

“Er...what?”

Shrugging, Tobi considered explaining for a minute and decided against it, “It doesn’t matter. Forget Niamh. If you were in Gilleous when you got the letter, how come you came riding from the North?”

“Ah, that’s a long story. I am gonna log quickly and tell mum that I found you and you’re alright. Give you some time to catch up with Lorry.”

Lorry?

Tobi’s head snapped to the side as he looked at Lorry in the unfamiliar Assassins clothing. The veil that covered most of his face and the hood covering his head did a good job of hiding who he was, but the smiling eyes were unmistakable.

“Hi there, Tobi. Good to see you again.”

---

Selene

Reaching the North Gates, Selene looked back and confirmed Romun had disappeared before carrying on. The guards didn’t pay her any attention at all as they drew their swords and readied their shields.

Following the path of their attention, she saw two horses charging down the road. Neither horse looked like they were suited for the headlong dash, but the riders didn’t seem to care. The woman in front seemed to be desperately fleeing from the Assassin hot on her heels.

Spotting Sax rushing out to meet them, she just about resisted rolling her eyes. There was nothing like a damsel in distress to get a knight in shining armor on his toes.

The woman spotted Sax and so did the Assassin. Both sped up their horses and redirected their charge. Just ahead, standing by himself not far from a concrete pillar was Tobi. The woman leaned to the side of her horse and reached out her arm.

In one easy scoop of her arm, Tobi was lifted onto the horse and the high speed chase became a kidnapping in the blink of an eye. The woman turned her horse and bolted for the trees. The Assassin turned too—matching her movements with every stride.

Sax gave chase, but it was already too late. They disappeared into the trees before Sax even reached the pillar where Tobi had been just moments before.

Standing at the gate at a complete loss of what to do, Selenes mind reeled. She could barely even believe what she had just seen, let alone understand it.

Sax turned his head and spotted her instantly. Her mind was still trying to catch up to the situation when Sax reached her.

“I have a horse at the stable’s. I am going to go get it and go after them. Go get the Talin. His breed is a scout so he should be able to track them. I will get horses for both of you as well. Go! Quickly!”

Selene nodded absentmindedly before her thoughts caught up. With the instructions given and knowing what to do, she gave a quick nod and turned back to the city. Running as quickly as she could, she thanked the Gods she wasn’t wearing her robe. It was far easier to run in normal clothing—especially when she wasn’t wearing a skirt. The shorts she had on so that her legs could get a better tan were perfect.

She was barely a dozen strides back into the city before two men joined her on either side. They were Darien’s men, probably sent to keep an eye on Tobi.

“We saw what happened,” One of the men said as he ran effortlessly beside her, “we’re coming too.”

---

Tobi

“...so we all agreed to go to Tomin’s and put a stop to him.” Tobi continued as he drew near to the end of his story. He’d summarized pretty much everything that had happened to him since he arrived in Chadú and only skipped a few choice bits of information.

Lorry listened to every word without interruption, but it was clear to see he had some questions and a few things to say about it all.

At that moment, Lucy finally logged back in. Although she was only going to speak to their mom, she had taken almost a full five minutes. In Aevitas, that was more like 20 minutes and had given plenty of time for Tobi to tell Lorry all that had happened.

“Sorry I took so long. Mum was out so I left her a message by the phone and then went to the toilet.”

“That’s OK,” Tobi answered with a smile, his chest swelling with emotion at seeing his sister again. He still couldn’t believe she was there and a memory from his time in Cohol came to mind. It wasn’t too much of an exaggeration to say that she had saved him. During a time when he’d been confused about his own identity, it had been his memory of her that brought him back, “I was just telling Lorry everything that happened to me here.”

“Ooh. Tell me too…”

“I have almost finished though. Besides, I am more interested in how you are and what you have been up to. You know, besides kidnapping me. When I got back from College you weren’t home so we didn’t have chance to catch up.”

“Same old stuff really.” Calamity answered dismissively, “Our catch ups was usually just talking about you and Niamh anyway. Which reminds me, she phones like...every day.”

“Really? Why?”

“Before that…” Lorry interrupted, “I don’t want to ruin your reunion, but now that you’re both here, I have something to tell you both. It works better this way because you can tell your parents too. When I logged out during our sail to the fishing village, Skea-Tech gave me some information to pass on when I found Tobi.”

“Can you get him out?” Calamity asked instantly, hopefully.

Lorry shook his head, “We don’t know that yet. I don’t really have that kind of clearance anyway. I only know what they tell me. What I do know is that Tobi isn’t in the user database. I was told that means he is classed as an NPC, which explains why he can’t log out to some degree. What they can’t figure out is why.”

“So what’s the news?” Tobi asked, guessing that what he said wasn’t the information his parents should be told about.

“Well, they have opened a private server and hired someone willing to run some tests on. They have blocked his ability to log out and run some simulations. They can forcefully log him out, but his situation is a little different to yours. For starters, they are the ones that are controlling whether or not he can log out. One of the tests they did was to check if it would be safe to add an update to Aevitas.”

“An update?” Tobi and Calamity asked together.

“Yes. There have been a lot of complaints on the forum about the speed of the game. While its great when we are online, because we get more done—it means our periods of being logged out are also long. Just then was a clear example. To us, Calamity logged out for 20 minutes, but to her, she was only gone 5 minutes. It is worse when the period of time is longer. A man working a 9-to-5 job is especially troubled. Including the time spent travelling to and from work, he could be offline for as much as 12 hours or more. That’s a full 2 days in Aevitas time.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Tobi asked, sounding more arrogant than he intended.

“The test they ran on the private server was what would happen if they slowed down the speed of the server while people were logged in. The test player didn’t even notice it happened. Even though he knew it would happen, he didn’t feel any change at all. They decided it is safe to slow down this server, but because of the risks, they want your agreement first.”

Tobi shrugged, “They haven’t asked for my opinion on anything before.”

“Because they never changed anything before. They feel they gave you enough protection inside the game. Anything you do to jeapordize your own safety is down to you.”

“You mean that’s what they would say in court if he died.” Calamity said angrily, instantly seeing more to the situation than Tobi had considered, “If he says yes to allowing the update and something goes wrong, it isn’t their fault, right? Because he accepted the risks.”

Lorry didn’t deny it at all and agreed that she was probably right in her assessment of the situation.

“How much slower will it be?”

“Half of the current speed.” Lorry answered, “They think it works better for you too. If the speed was decreased, the time you feel you have been trapped will be less. To you, it has been a very long time. Even for me it seems that way because I still had some access. To everyone else though, your story is still pretty new. Not even 5 months old.”

Not even 5 months. Tobi echoed in his mind. He’d been in Aevitas for so long, it was hard to imagine so little time had passed in the real world.

“Will it have any affect on the people in this world?”

“None.” Lorry answered confidently, “The server will be closed for 1 hour during the update, but other than that, you shouldn’t even notice anything was changed. They want to make some other updates too, but right now it is just the speed of the server.”

Well, if the people of this world aren’t affected then Selene will still be Selene, so I guess it’s fine.

“OK, tell them I accept the risks. Better that than me spending another 4 years in this world while only a year has passed in yours.”

“Our world.” Calamity corrected, taking note of how he didn’t refer to the real world as his own.

“Well if you’re sure,” Lorry continued and stood up, “then I will go tell my supervisors I found you and that you agreed. I should be back in about 20 minutes, but I guess that will be an hour for you. Will you still be here when I come back?”

“I need to get back to Sax and the others sometime soon. Go to the North Gate when you’re back on. If we’re not there, find Sal’s Copper Lantern in the city.”

Lorry nodded before his hand reached out and touched empty space.

“Huh? Log out. Oh. I can’t log out, it says we’re in battle.”

As Lorry pulled daggers from sheaths at his belt, Lucy stood up and pulled the sword off her back. Tobi didn’t know how the huge sword stay in place, but there didn’t appear to be any bonds holding it there. Tobi stood up too, but with his staff back at the stone pillar and wearing ‘civilian clothes’, he felt like a third wheel; a lamb in a wolves den.

“I can’t see anyone…” Calamity noted, looking through the trees.

“I can.” Tobi answered calmly, “Three assassins, two thieves, one Novali warrior and a Priestess on horses. And one Talin on foot, scouting the area.”

“Looks like your kidnapping drew some attention.” Lorry noted, moving to Tobi’s side and looking through the trees in the same direction, “I can’t see any...oh, I can see a faint shadow. Looks like someone is using stealth. My level isn’t high enough to see through it though.”

“Oh. I can see it too, now you pointed it out. I can see several figures but I can’t make out what they are.”

“You can see through stealth?” Lorry asked in surprise.

“I am a bounty hunter. I am the natural enemy of rogue classes; of course I can see through crappy shadow stealths. Wait. Tobi, you can see them all?”

“Yep. The Talin is like a brother, the Novali is...someone, the five men are people who have been tasked with keeping an eye on me...and the Priestess… well… she is kinda my other half.”

As Calamity’s jaw dropped, Lorry frowned and stared back at Tobi, “You’re dating an NPC?”

“I would prefer it if you didn’t call her that. And yes. I am.”

“What about Niamh?” Calamity asked, still reeling from the revelation but putting it off for the time being.

“What about her? She ditched me for someone else a long time ago.”

All three stared at each other in silence. Tobi waiting for the other two to dare say something and both of them trying to come to terms with what was just said.

Before anyone said anything, the Talin looked up from the tracks he was following and spotted Tobi. Rushing from the shadow granted to him by their party, the Talin seemed to target Lorry. As he closed in, his eyes shifted to Calamity and he switched to her instead.

Calamity noticed too and readied her sword.

“No!”

Diving forward before the two met, Tobi gathered an Arcane Strike and pushed Lucy to the side. The knockback of his spell was twice as effective against warrior class, especially those in metal armor. The speed she was blown back seemed almost explosive—even if it still only knocked her back the usual distance.

Spinning on the spot, Tobi had already gathered the same amount of mana to do the same again. Barely a second passed between the two strikes, but the Talin was much larger and had high magical resistance. As a result, he simply spun slightly before tripping over and falling on his ass.

Calamity was the first back to her feet, dusting herself off again and glaring at Tobi angrily, “You need to stop doing that. It might not look it, but that actually hurts.”

“Sorry,” Tobi answered meekly, “I just reacted. I did tell you that the Talin is like my brother...and you’re my sister. I can’t let you kill each other.”

“Sister?”

Turning to look at Selene who was sat on a horse just a few feet away, Tobi sighed. Sax was already beside the Talin, his horse a few feet away. Darien’s men were off their horses too and still edging toward their flanking positions.

“Yes. Sister.” Calamity replied hotly.

The way Calamity answered was enough for Tobi to know she disapproved of him dating someone from Aevitas. Probably enough to tell Selene that he was a traveler, despite what his letter to her had said.

“You never told me you had a sister,” Selene said, ignoring Calamity completely.

“You never asked.” Tobi countered, his cheeks flushing as different emotions surged forward. He was still happy at seeing his sister, but he was also slightly annoyed by how she spoke to Selene. At the same time, he didn’t want to have this conversation with Selene in front of so many people—especially his sister.

“That’s not the point. People normally tell—”

“—It is the point.” Tobi interrupted, knowing full well what argument she was about to use, “If you cared to know, you would have asked.”

“Well you didn’t ask me either.”

“I asked plenty in the beginning. Why you didn’t have a name, your past, your parents, the farm you grew up on. You were evasive and vague, so I stopped asking.”

Selene opened her mouth before closing it again. She knew Tobi had purposely not mentioned the word slave and used the farm to make his point instead. She also knew that he was telling her that this wasn’t the time or place for the argument.

After narrowing her eyes and shooting him an evil glare, Selene turned on her heel and stalked off.

“Sax, go after her,” Tobi sighed, knowing the shit he would be in when Selene got him on his own.

“I will go.” The Talin responded, turning to leave as he said it.

“No. You stay. Sax—go.”

Sax hesitated for a moment, but as it looked like the Talin planned on doing as he was told, Sax ran to catch up with Selene.

Tobi turned to look at the 5 men now standing in a half-circle around them.

“The rest of you can fuck off.”

All five men jerked in surprise at the sudden hostility.

“...or you can die if you prefer.” Tobi added indifferently.

Four of the men looked to the one Tobi was staring at. The man registered the looks he received but kept his eyes on Tobi.

Tobi looked to Lorry and gave a slight gesture toward the assassin. Lorry nodded and activated one of his skills. The ability literally teleported him behind the enemy.

With a dagger at the man’s throat and another pressed to his lower back, Lorry leaned over his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

The man nodded in response. After he signalled for the other men to leave, Lorry let him go and watched him follow the rest of them.

“Now what?” Lorry asked.

“You go do what you were going to do. I am going to head to the cliffs just west of here. Lucy and I need to have a little chat.”

“And the Talin?”

Tobi looked at the Talin and considered him for a moment, “He saved my life once. I am going to tell him the truth about me.”

“Npc—I mean—people of this world won’t understand if you tell them everything.”

“I have been here long enough to know what can and can’t be said.” Tobi answered calmly, “Don’t worry, I know what I am doing and the Talin deserves to know.”

“And your girlfriend doesn’t?”

Tobi shrugged, “I will tell her too when it’s time. I gave her enough clues by now to figure it out.”