Morgav rubbed his face as the figure in the middle of the distortions slowly stood and jumped from their high perch.

  Arcen was already walking backwards. He wasn’t the only one. Isadora had the same idea. She broke away from Morgav’s side, slowly crawling back. Her legs were tensed, as if she was ready to leap and dash at a moment’s notice.

  The dark figure crouched where they landed and disappeared into the spatial distortions surrounding them. Morgav looked around wearily, his red eye dancing all over the desolate chamber.

  Is it gone?

  Arcen paused, trying to focus. The Reveal had told him it was a human. He found it hard to believe. It didn’t matter what it was. He didn’t want to meet a monster three times as powerful as the queen. He was less than an ant compared to that.

  The distortions vanished inwards towards the darkness beneath the queen.

  Isadora suddenly turned to her right, opening her mouth to say something or yell, but her jaw remained frozen. A blur of gray-white circled past them faster than a bullet. Morgav leapt forwards and Arcen and Isadora found themselves catapulted a good twenty meters back.

  For a split second as the blur went past him, Arcen felt the cold touch of a hand on his neck. Isadora groaned as she stood off the ground, grabbing the back of her neck. There was just enough light for Arcen to see a red handprint on her pale skin.

  The blur that circled around them resolved itself into a person right above Morgav. There was a split second where Morgav raised his forearm, countering a slap that came from above. The man turned back into a blur and shot downwards, resolving back into a human crouching casually before Morgav.

  A powerful light flickered into existence. It lit almost a quarter of the chamber in a split second. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.

  The man who crouched before Morgav was slightly taller than Arcen, but he was half as big with lean muscles in places that Arcen didn’t know muscles could even be. He had nine packs arranged in a V shape. He only wore a thick pair of baggy pants tightly sealed around his lower waist and ankles. He had no weapon or backpack.

  He’s like Kylan?

  Obviously, except for all the strange muscles, the man didn’t quite look like a man at all. His face was as young and ‘fresh’ as Arcen’s brother. He had smooth skin, with no hint of ever having a proper beard or a mustache. There was no hair on his chest or forearms. This looked like a late teen with a gym addiction.

  He combed his straight hair back and glared at Morgav with his yellow-orange eyes that glowed menacingly in the dark. Waves of distortion still emitted from his skin like human-shaped ripples on water.

  “Hey,” he spoke in a sharp voice. It confirmed Arcen’s assumption. It was the voice of a boy. There was something else immediately noticeable when he opened his mouth. He had sharp teeth like a shark.

  He’s a shark mutant?

  The gray skin made sense immediately. In addition, he had faint scaly patterns on his shoulders and sides. He wasn’t a full mutant like Arcen. If he had to guess, this boy was at least eighty percent shark.

  “Oh? I didn’t expect to see you here, Tymon,” Morgav said, bowing slightly as he spoke in a polite voice.

  “Just killing time,” Tymon said, standing up. His demeanor changed when Morgav called him by his name.

  “You had your fun with that?” Morgav asked, pointing at the dead queen.

  “Yeah. I got good ten hours of fun out of her,” Tymon said, checking his nails nonchalantly.

  Don’t tell me this fucker’s Nostrum too!

  Arcen struggled back onto his feet. Just ahead of him, Isadora was frozen in place. Doing everything to keep her head down.

  “What are you doing here though?” Morgav asked, still keeping to his overly polite tone.

  “Four fifty-seven’s the furthest I can go. There’s a problem there,” Tymon said with a sigh. “This tower’s been left alone for too long. You know how it goes.”

  What does that mean?

  “Ah. Something crazy climbed down from the top?”

  “Nothing I can’t handle!” Tymon shouted. Morgav almost melted where he stood. Arcen jumped an inch off the floor.

  “A-apologies, Tymon. I didn’t mean to offend,” Morgav said, bowing slightly. “I’m just wondering about that because I’m heading up there.”

  “Well, Rika’s up there. It’s just blocked. No one’s gone through, and there’s a pile of corpses there. Most of them are Skyward guys. So everyone’s camping it out right now. I’ve been fucking around for a week. I’m bored,” Tymon said, rubbing his cheek.

  “Oh, Rika Gertrud’s up there?”

  “Yes. She won’t play with me though,” Tymon said, looking up in frustration. “I can’t fight you because I can’t beat you without killing you!” he said in a mock, shrill female voice that was closer to a cat meowing in a valley girl accent. “That’s what she says every goddamn time I asked her to play with me.”

  “She can’t beat you, surely?” Morgav asked, trying to play it safe this time.

  “Oh, she can. Rika’s great. It’s just I can eat her halfway before that, so she’s afraid of these,” Tymon said, pointing at his sharp teeth. He opened and closed his mouth, his teeth clashing loudly.

  Eating? He eats people too?!

  Tymon was more unpredictable than Morgav. Arcen started looking for directions to escape before this powder keg exploded in his face. There was a reason why Isadora remained frozen in fear and Morgav was so uncharacteristically polite. Luckily, he was the furthest away from them after Tymon’s entrance knocked him ways back. He could run away if he really wanted to.

  “I climbed down from four fifty-seven looking for some fun down here,” Tymon said, pacing impatiently. “I’m so bored. You know how I get when I get bored.”

  “Y-yes.”

  Arcen started stepping sideways towards the nearest fallen root. Morgav wasn’t going to take his eye off Tymon for the foreseeable future. Gravel crunched under Arcen’s foot as he took a step.

  Tymon’s orange-red eyes dashed towards him. “Your octopus is trying to leave. Is that okay?” he asked from Morgav.

  “Ah, he does that sometimes. No worries,” Morgav said, chuckling nervously.

  “He’s interesting too. Eight million Aura, weak skills and one useless contract. What is he? your Aura bag or something?”

  He already used Reveal on me?!

  “Oh no, he’s just a guide,” Morgav said, looking over his shoulder at Arcen. There was a serious warning in his frown. Arcen stopped trying to sneak away. This wasn’t the right time.

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  “Guide to what?”

  Tymon sounded intrigued. Morgav had been cornered. There was no way to lie out of this question. Arcen waited patiently to hear what he had to say. He didn’t think Morgav would be brave enough to lie to someone this powerful.

  “Well, I’ll be direct. Did you happen to see a black egg somewhere up here?” Morgav asked.

  “Yeah?, a little girl about this size had one,” Tymon said, gesturing at his waist.

  Oily girl! He’s seen her!

  The height he gestured at was about one and a half feet too short than what Arcen remembered. She was at least four foot nine, or eleven. Tymon stretched his arms. “She didn’t want to play with me either. She was so slippery. Too young for me. Can’t play too rough with kids, they cry. I don’t like that. So, I let her go.”

  “Interesting. Where did you see her last?” Morgav asked meekly.

  “Four hundred fifty-three or four. I don’t really remember. She’s probably at fifty-six with Rika now. That’s where everyone goes when they want to stay away from me,” Tymon said, looking directly at Morgav. “Why do you want that kid’s egg, dude?”

  “Ah, it’s what my boss wants.”

  “Bane Nostrum of Nostrum Frontier Group wants a fucking egg from a little girl in a bum-fuck-nowhere Wensik tower?” Tymon shouted, laughing loudly. “You’ve got to lie better, Morggie. I’ve not seen Bane in four fucking years. Fuck me if this is what got him all horny out of nowhere.”

  Morgav shook when Tymon called him ‘Morggie’. Arcen saw him trying his best to keep his composure. Tymon glared at him sideways. “I’ve never seen you this low on Aura. I’m guessing that’s also got something to do with the egg?”

  “Y-yes. Some things happened. I’m trying to recover my losses. That egg’s worth a lot.”

  “Oh? How much exactly?”

  Walked right into that one.

  “Twenty million, or around that.”

  “Don’t fuck with me. That girl and that egg total was about ten million Aura. Nowhere near twenty. I would’ve tried to play with her for a little bit if she had more.”

  “N-no, dollars! It’s worth outside about that much in dollars. I’ve got a buyer.”

  Didn’t he tell me that thing was worth three hundred million dollars?

  Morgav had never mentioned his buyer even once. Arcen didn’t know why he wanted the egg beyond cashing it out. The buyer could very well be Helviter again. He couldn’t imagine who else had that kind of cash to throw around.

  “Really? Well, I’ll look for it then,” Tymon said with a smile. “I’ve got to see what’s special about this kid’s egg now.”

  Morgav smiled uncomfortably. Setting Tymon on the path to potentially half a billion dollars was the last thing he would’ve wanted out of this encounter.

  Tymon continued.

  “So, I met this cook somewhere down in the two hundreds, Dominicus, his name. He gave me one hell of a steak. Didn’t take any gold for it or nothing. I’m going down there tomorrow. I wonder what he could do with this expensive egg of yours. I wonder what it tastes like.”

  This shark asshole wants to eat the King?!

  “Aha,” Morgav gave a fake chuckle and stopped. He’d run out of words to lick Tymon’s toes with.

  “But before that,” Tymon cracked his neck. “I’ve got to have some fun with you, don’t I?

  This was good news to Arcen. If Morgav and this Tymon lunatic started fighting, he’d have his long awaited chance to run away. He had to pick the moment where they’re completely distracted with each other and bolt as fast as possible.

  “Kill him and take his gold,” Tymon said, pointing at Arcen. ”You barely have one and a half million. That’s not very fun for me. That seven million is wasted on that guy. He’s got no contracts or skills worth anything.“

  Shit! How did I become the topic again!

  “I-I would like to do this sometime later, Tymon. See, I need that guy to find the egg.”

  “What egg are you talking about? That egg’s mine. I told you already. Just kill him, take his Aura.” Tymon yelled at Morgav. “You can use that girl over there to bring him back if you want him so badly. I know you got that death swap contract or whatever.”

  Isadora shuddered where she stood.

  Morgav snapped his fingers on his left hand and swept his right hand at Tymon. A pulse exploded on Tymon’s face, the weight of the blow sending him flying. Morgav jumped back as a green blur dashed between them. Karla popped into existence for a split second. She kicked off Morgav, spinning mid air towards Tymon, extending her hands as she cut deep into his gray body with an invisible force.

  Tymon laughed as he blurred into the darkness. His Radiate vanished with him, engulfing them back in complete darkness. Isadora fired her light threads again, this time directly up towards the chamber ceiling.

  Tymon was nowhere to be seen.

  Karla dashed back into formation next to Morgav as Leyland dashed to a halt next to Isadora.

  “What’s the play?” Karla asked, rubbing the blood off her sharp fingers on her shirt.

  “We run. There’s no winning this!” Morgav said, swiping his hand in a circle. Rippling waves extended from him. shattering rocks and decimating the hollow roots around them. Arcen was glad he held off on his escape. If he was far from the group, he would’ve gotten ripped to shreds.

  Leyland hardened his skin, metallic scales grew from his skin. Karla activated something that made her skin glow iridescent colors.

  As the ripple waves vanished, Arcen slowly retreated from the group. For the first time, no one was paying any attention to him. He had to run out of this chamber. He remembered the path that they took. They weren’t far from the chamber veil.

  Now if that shark fucker distracted them enough!

  A white blade came out of the darkness before Morgav. It was as wide as a forearm, made of white enamel like material. It grazed Morgav, cut Karla on the hip and hit Isadora’s thigh on the blunt top edge. If it was sharp, it would’ve ripped her leg off. Leyland managed to pull Isadora out of the way before the blade sent her flying. Arcen was two feet away from the white blade, he felt the air pressure as it passed by him. It slammed into the slate rock behind him.

  He rolled to the side, pretending to dodge it with a late reaction. He managed to distance himself even more from the group. He was just at the edge of lighting that Isadora provided. She was in no shape to use that contract again. She had tried to counter the thick blade with her forearm, which was now bent like a wire. She was screaming in pain as Leyland used Restore on her.

  Tymon appeared on the blade that he threw, and Morgav swiped his hand again, trying to pick a direction to escape to.

  Karla used some sort of contract that summoned three large spikes from the ground beneath Tymon. He rotated mid air, fitting himself sideways between the spikes, and exploded into sword blades that unfurled from his palms like paper out of a receipt machine.

  Morgav countered one of the unfurling blades. Tymon launched himself off the ground and reappeared above Karla’s head. He glided over her with his palm aimed directly down over her head.

  Suddenly, three sword blades burst forth from his palm, falling onto Karla’s head. Their blunt edges hammered her to a mush on the floor. Twisting over mid jump, Tymon severed the blades from his palm. It seemed he had an infinite supply of these dangerous blades.

  “No!” Morgav yelled, his red eye brushing over the pile of gore that once used to be Karla. Her brain was nowhere to be seen, crushed to paste under Tymon’s disposable sword blades.

  Leyland screamed, charging forward blinded by anger. Tymon swatted him away like a fly with his foot. Leyland flew as a bone blade slammed him, sending him flying into the darkness. Tymon followed that up with another white blade. Leyland’s scream cut off abruptly.

  Good! They’re dead!

  Tymon emerged from the darkness, clapping slowly. ”I wouldn’t call that fun. But you tried.“ He said, looking at Morgav. ”I’ll spend one million of my Aura on you, and you’ll do the same.“

  “You didn’t have to kill them!” Morgav said, his voice distraught.

  “They started it. And I killed them.” Tymon said, laughing. “Now you know I’m serious. Make it fun, Morggie!”

  Tymon vanished back into the darkness.

  Arcen turned and ran as fast as he could. He saw Isadora taking off in the opposite direction, trying to escape just like him.

  He fell and rolled his way as far as his legs could carry him. He missed a step in the dark and fell into a hole in the ground created by a hollowed gray root.

  Clashing sounds faded into the far corner of the chamber as he kept himself low. He listened with his ear pressed against the wall of the root like Karla used to do. The sounds were faint and distant.

  Now, I’ve got to get out of this chamber!

  He needed light to get his bearings.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ SKILL ╰︶

  ????

  RADIATE

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯

  It gave just enough light to show his surroundings. He was about five or six feet below ground. He crawled out of the hole, keeping himself low to the ground.

  Once out, he listened for a moment to confirm where the noises were. They were coming from his left, towards the far corner of the chamber. He got back on his feet, kept his head down and started running.

  Before long, he ran into the chamber wall in the direction he was running. He had to find the veil to pass through. He didn’t know if it was on his left or right. He picked right at random and kept running. The veil was bright enough to see without any light.

  He found it a few seconds later. He dove in without a second look at the queen's chamber. He wanted to get far away as possible.

  A white blade from Tymon crashed into the rocks right next to him before he could make it through the veil. It was like a warning shot to stop him, or tell him he saw what Arcen was doing.

  No way I’m going to stop!

  Arcen leapt forward, hopping over the blade that sank deep into the rock. Tymon had detected him somehow. It had to be his seven million Aura.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶

  ????

  FABRICATE WEAKNESS

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯

  With that, Arcen stumbled through the veil into the next chamber, running as fast as his legs allowed.

  Next chapter on Monday.

  Today's the end of 3 weeks of daily as promised in the blurb, and we're switching to regular M/W/F.

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