Tro, my wraith, who used to go by the name Manager had just said the man Lilac was crying over was a royal bodyguard. Tro also had been the one that killed the man by whipping him to death. Which meant that he knew what he was talking about. What I didn’t get was how Lilac knew the bodyguard.

I shifted on my throne and asked. “Lilac, did you know the man?”

Before she got to answer, Tro did for her. “They came together. They wanted to run away the princess and the guard… lovers!”

Lilac snapped her head around and glared at the dead lizardman. “And your guild betrayed us!”

The wraith started to laugh, and then he said. “You made me so much money! We sold your flesh golem to three different kingdoms. Each one has offered to return you to your dad for a huge sum of money. The problem, of course, is he paid it to all three, and none of them were you. We even had your golem fall off of Cloudia and get found in Essex. The kingdom mourned for your death. However, your mother has been paying us to keep you alive since she doesn’t have the funds to get you back.”

The princess screamed and shot a beam of white and gold energy out from her hand. When the beam hit my wraith, he screamed and vanished. I stared at her, and she lowered her head and kept crying.

Kasidy, who hadn’t said anything, waved a book at me. “This one should do. I expect that it has what we need.”

I nodded and looked around the room. “I think this is where we will put the safe room. The rest of the place can be the main floor. Though I might pull everything back from around the gates so that they can work normally.”

I thought over to Blink. “I am setting up the safe room now. Come up to it and bring Irwin and Renfry. We have a lot to talk about.”

Blink sent happy thoughts to me. “Be right there, Daddy!”

I pointed to the platform’s edge and triggered the safe room location. Dave’s door appeared right on the edge. I knew that the magic of the dungeons was powerful and odd. I also knew that the safe room’s was even stranger. That said, knowing that floating in the open air there was somehow the whole safe room just messed with me.

As we moved into the room, I glanced at Lilac, still on the ground. “When you want to come through this door, there will be a place for you to rest that will be safe.”

She nodded and then asked. “How are we in a dungeon? We weren’t, and then we moved to be in one in the fight.”

I smiled at her. “I planted it here. We needed the safe room, and I needed a way to suck up the mana that Tro was using for his shield.”

She gulped and lowered her head to the ground. “You are a dungeon master, then?”

I nodded and then realized that she couldn’t see me. “Yes, I am.”

From facing the ground, she said. “Your kind doesn’t come out often. I thank you then for the help that you have given me. Will you spare Triston’s body?”

I nodded again, realizing she couldn't see me while bowing on the ground. “Yes.”

Then I went into the interface and removed the body she was next to from one that would be assimilated. While I was at it, I removed all of my undead from the system. The dungeons were born knowing how to make most of these, and there was no sense in wasting them if I didn’t have to. Then we went into the safe room.

As soon as I passed through the door, Dave called out. “Arn good to see… What in the Under Heavens happened to you?”

Then Kasidy stepped in, and Dave said. “Oh no, that’s not good at all.”

The guards set my throne down, and then I moved off of it over into a chair. “Dave, can you get us each a drink or two and something hot to eat? The others will be here as they can, but we need to rest for a while.”

Dave gulped and nodded. A few moments later, he brought a tray with an entire bottle of a dark amber drink and three shot glasses. He set them all up in front of me and then gave Kasidy a single glass of wine. I smiled as I knocked back the three shots and set them up again.

Before I grabbed my fork, I said. “I’m glad that Irwin isn’t here. That always-on ability would have me all messed up right now.”

Kasidy smiled and laughed a little. “I wouldn’t mind talking to him about the curse on that blade.”

Dave brought over a tray with the two steak and potato meals he served us and then sat down himself. “So Arn, you look pretty messed up. That said, the curse on Kasidy is the scary one.”

I nodded to Dave as I cut my food. “Yeah, do you know anything about a blade of Adite or who or what Adite is?”

My barkeep nodded. “At dungeon level 85, you gain access to getting a blade of Adite. However, it won’t spawn in a dungeon until level 101. The blade is an odd one, that’s for sure. It will help you grow but at the cost of killing each week.”

I went to interrupt Dave and tell him that I already knew this when he held up a hand and kept talking. “The other less known part of the blade but that you would know if you got it from my store is that it is called a blade of Adite because Adite at least used to get a portion of the experience and health that was stolen from the target on a killing blow.”

He took a breath and then put down the rocks glass he somehow had back in his hands. “Now, here is the tricky thing. Adite was the god of curses.”

I did cut in this time. “So he was an ascended with the domain of curses?”

Dave nodded. “At any rate. The blades shouldn’t be able to send anything on to him if he broke through the Lower heavens and moved into the Upper Heavens. That said, the blades also shouldn’t curse someone to death. It was meant as a death curse, not a curse of death.”

I nodded slowly. “So someone messed with them?”

Dave nodded and filled up his glass. “Likely, or Adite found a way to keep using them here while he moved on.”

Kasidy spoke up for the first time since we arrived in the safe room. “There are songs about how the king of the gods killed Adite and took his power over curses.”

Dave spat to the side. “Gods can’t or don’t kill other gods. So if the king of the gods got Adite’s power, that likely means that the swords were all linked to an item.”

I nodded slowly and asked. “So then, why the curse, and do you know of anything that could break it?”

Dave sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know who the current king of the gods is. The last I heard, it was Jesup the Bold, the god over exploration and shipbuilding.”

Kasidy shook her head. “I have heard a few songs about him, but they are old. No, the king of the gods is Pramsu, the god of Universities and scholars.”

I heard that name, and something grated on me. I wasn’t sure why, but every time I heard Pramsu, I knew I couldn’t trust the guy. I needed to stay under the radar so he didn’t look too closely at me. I knew that much, but not why.

Dave looked over at me and nodded. “He’s not a balanced god. So he’ll grow in power quicker but also will go out of whack.”

Kasidy raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean not balanced?”

Dave shook his head like someone about to teach someone a subject they thought all children knew. “Gods have to be balanced between the aspects of Order and Chaos. Those that aren’t tend to get screwy and have problems breaking through to the next level. A king that isn’t balanced would have true problems.”

I ran my hand over my beard for a moment and asked. “Okay, was Jesup balanced?”

Dave smiled and nodded. “Yup, exploration is Chaos, and shipbuilding is order.”

Kasidy laughed and asked. “So you’re telling me Bartholomew even has to be balanced?”

Dave smiled and nodded. “I know this might sound strange, but summer beer is on the Chaotic side, and bards are with Order.”

I laughed and took another shot. “Nope, you can’t tell me that bards are orderly! Besides, I know enough about making beer to know that it takes far too much order to be called Chaotic.”

Dave shook his head slowly. “No, you see, there’s no such thing as a summer beer. That’s why it is Chaotic. Summer beer is just beer drunk in the summer, yet people have brews that they swear are summer ales. The thing is, they aren’t. Also, drinking in and of itself leads to a good bit of Chaos. As for why Bards are the orderly part, they play and learn songs. There know how to read music and make sure they follow the rules when writing and singing. Now their songs might cause some chaos, but that is on the other people, not them.”

I slowly nodded my head. “Okay, so back to the curse; what do we do?”

Dave shrugged his shoulders a little. “I have ideas of how to learn more about the curse, but I don’t know how you will get the right items.”

Kasidy leaned forward. “Okay, what is it that we need.”

Dave took a deep breath. “You need an unbonded Blade of Adite which means you have to have a dungeon at least 85 levels or dive down at least 101 and hope. You need a master-level curse kit which is easier as you need to be the master of a level 50 dungeon.” Dave paused and then looked down. “The hardest thing will be a priest or priestess of the god using the sword now or from someone whose domains supersede theirs.”

I raised the eyebrow to my one eye and asked. “What do you mean whose domain supersedes?”

Dave smiled. “Remember how I told you gods must be balanced in Order and Chaos? Well, under the sisters are all sorts of other domains. Take Bartholomew, for example. He is the god of bards and summer beer. So the god of Musicians and alcohol would supersede him. Likely so would performers and beer.”

I nodded and said. “So the current king who is….”

Kasidy cut in. “Pramsu”

“Right, Pramsu, the god of Universities and scholars, could be overruled by? What? Schools and Researchers?”

Dave nodded slowly and then smiled a bit. “Well, in his case, it could be schools or researchers. He would tie with any specialist in a non-physical field. So the god of mages would tie with him on command in that domain, but the god of blacksmiths would be in a different non-overlapping domain.”

I nodded a little. “So we use the curse kit to do what?”

“To figure out which god or goddess is getting their experience and health by testing the unbound blade. Then you have to find the right person to remove the curse.”

* * *