Book 2. Chapter 16

Book 2. Chapter 16

Brin had hoped that they’d go straight over to Neptune after they got back, but they didn’t have the potion yet and Hogg wouldn’t even entertain the idea of waking Calisto up in the middle of the night to make it.

To top things off, Brin and Marksi still smelled like corpses, so he made them bathe before they could enter the house. That meant using a bucket and rag on the back doorstep with cold water in the middle of the night.

It didn’t ruin his good mood, though. Three levels in one night! He was nearly to level fifteen, and with it, possibly [Illusionist]. Assuming he got [Summon Glass], that was the last really powerful [Glasser] Skill that he needed. He’d be able to continue to train up those Skills even after he evolved the Class; he couldn’t get new [Glasser] Skills, but really, there weren’t any he’d heard of that he really wanted.

That meant he needed to think about fulfilling the conditions for earning the Class itself. Hogg seemed to think Brin would get it no problem, but his inner-selves had given him a hint. He needed to do what someone calling themselves an illusionist on earth would do. In his mind, and his mind was all that mattered for this kind of riddle, that meant he needed to put on a magic show. He hadn’t really put any thought into how or when to do that; he’d figured it was still a long way off.

Preparing for bed, he unpacked the pockets of his leather clothes so that he could put them in the laundry. Perris’ smoke bombs were in there, as well as the hand mirror. He hadn’t gotten a chance to use the smoke bombs, and he really shouldn’t have brought the mirror at all. At least it wasn’t broken.

Turning it over in his hands, he noticed that there was no back. He assumed mirrors in this technology level would be set with polished metal, but it wasn’t. It was all one piece of shaped glass. He scraped the back with his fingernail, and discovered it wasn’t painted either. It was just glass.

A [Glasser] had probably made this, he realized. The person who made this could alter the properties of the glass itself to make it perfectly reflective. Perris had given this to him as a clue. A sign of the type of thing that a Glasser should be able to do.

If he could make glass reflective, what else could he do? Could he disguise it? Soon he’d probably be able to disguise his glass weapons as ordinary steel, in order to stop giving enemies a clue about his abilities. He needed to up his game, crafting-wise.

It also didn’t escape his notice that Perris had literally sold him smoke bombs and a hand mirror. Smoke and mirrors. Honestly, how much did that guy know?

The last thing before bed, he pumped all his Mana into his spearhead, trying to change its color. He decided to make it black. Maybe it would look like blacksteel.

By the time he was tapped out, it was a foggy gray, but at least he hadn’t made it bubble or explode. Baby steps.

The next day, he pulled Hogg down to the enchanted ring in the cellar, even before Davi got there an hour before dawn for the morning workout.

“I’m an old man! I can’t get by on four hours of sleep like you kids,” Hogg complained.

“You’re not that old,” said Brin. “And besides, your Constitution is probably to the moon. I’m the one with Common stats.”

Actually, how high were Hogg’s stats? He used [Inspect].

A man.

Great, no change.

“First off, Luiza isn’t a [Witch],” said Brin.

“Aw, curse it. I thought I’d trip you up with that one,” said Hogg. “Her personality was the problem, I think. [Witches] have a kind of confidence that they just can’t hide.”

“What about her mother?”

“What about her? Are you making an accusation?”

Brin shrugged. “No. Not without scoping her out first. Next question. Can [Illusionists] make mirrors? They must be able to, right?”

“Yeah. [Perfect Mirror] is a Skill you usually get offered around ten or fifteen, but it’s a waste. It’s pretty easy to learn on your own. Learn to reflect light, then learn to absorb light. Once you can do both, you learn how to grab light, carry it, and then release it somewhere else. When you can do that, you’re ready for [True Invisibility]. It’s a level 45 Skill, but I was able to copy the effects at level 30.”

“Whoa,” said Brin. He didn’t have to fake being impressed. “But I’m asking because of this.” He held up his mirror. “A [Glasser] made this, right? I’m just wondering if there would ever be a reason why a physical mirror would be better than an illusory one.”

“The light from illusion magic isn’t real light; that’s why the Eveladis can erase it. It can interact with real light, though; it can focus or reflect it, but it costs a little Mana for every bit of light that you move. It’s not really noticeable for a mirror, but invisibility can drain you pretty quick at the lower levels. Mirrors are easy, though. When you hit [Illusionist] you’ll never be without a mirror again. It’s why I stay looking so sharp.” He stroked his chin, showing off the clean shave.

Which was totally bogus, Hogg almost always had a few days worth of stubble. He didn’t today, though, for whatever reason.

“So how is this going to go down today?” asked Brin.

“At dawn I’ll go visit Calisto and have him start on the potion. We’ll plan on ambushing Neptune at noon.”

“Will Calisto have it ready by then?”

“I’m sure. The noon part is mostly because we’re planning on capturing an undead. We’ll want him to capture him at his weakest.”

Brin stood. “Alright. Meet you there at noon.”

The workout with Davi started fairly normally. Brin was all kinds of sore from the fighting the night before. It really wasn’t fair; combat had lasted a total of two or three minutes, but somehow no matter how hard you tried to push in a workout you could never match the intensity of a life-or-death battle.

If Davi noticed something was off, he didn’t say anything. Brin debated telling him about Neptune and their adventures gathering the ingredients for the potion, but decided against it. He didn’t want to keep things like this from Davi, but the situation was too delicate right now, especially since Davi’s mom was a [Witch]. He couldn’t risk word getting back to Neptune before they had him under their control.

Davi was doing squats with two hundred pounds of water jugs attached to his yoke, pumping them out in sets of twenty without even breathing heavily, a fact he proved when he said, “I’m going to be performing in the public house soon.”

“What? Davi, that’s amazing! How soon is soon?”

“Tomorrow. It’s not that special, just for the daytime crowd. But Jeffrey thinks I need to start getting experience performing for a real audience.”

“Well, let me know what time. I’ll be there,” said Brin. A quick [Inspect] informed Brin that Davi had reached level 11. Golden child indeed. Even with Brin’s experience boosts, Davi had still kept up with him until he got hand-fed three undead warriors.

Davi smiled. “Thanks. I’d almost rather you weren’t there, though. I’m already too nervous.”

“You think I’d miss you embarrassing yourself in public like this? I’ve been dreaming of this day,” said Brin.

Davi’s eyes went up in shock, then he realized Brin was joking and smiled derisively, shaking his head. None of that distracted him from the casual ease with which he was knocking out those squats.

“You know what, I’m going to get Toros to make us a weight set. This is ridiculous.”

“It is getting kind of hard to find things that are heavy enough,” agreed Davi. “But I’m paying for half. [Bards] make real money. You aren’t going to be the rich one for much longer.”

“Then I better enjoy it while I can.”

After the workout, right as Davi was walking away, he casually called over his shoulder, “You know, Zilly’s been working hard lately. I see her already up and practicing when I’m walking home after our workout. Anyway, see you later.”

He zipped away before Brin could respond.

He sighed. He really should talk to Zilly. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her since they'd had their little fight, which meant she was avoiding him. She was probably mad at him even though the whole thing was her fault. Still, there hadn’t been that many people who’d gone out of their way to be nice to him back when he’d been an outcast, and she was one of them. He’d fix things, even if that meant doing like [Farmer] Kim and taking a fall.

He didn’t have to look long. He walked directly to the town square, and found her still there, doing push-ups while the Prefit counted them out. She saw him, then stood and said something to the Prefit. He gave her a towel to wipe off the sweat, then nodded and patted her back in approval.

She approached him like she was walking to her own execution.

Brin smiled. “Hey, Zilly! You look like you’re–”

“How are you so high level? I want a rematch,” she said.

Alert! [Hide Status] leveled up! 2 -> 3

Down here, they’d left the packed earth behind and the walls were all stone as well. They had as much of it as they wanted, if they trusted themselves to break the walls without risking a cave-in.

“I don’t see him,” whispered Bruna.

“He’s here,” said Hogg. Then louder, “Come on out, Neptune! We just want to talk.”

A voice called out from behind a pile of loose stone. “Promise me– hrrk.”

Bruna pointed with her finger, and a struggling Neptune flew towards them through the air. Wait, could [Witches] yank people around with their mind? Why? What gave her the power to do that? Her [Farmer] base Class shouldn’t let her do that, and Hogg had said that [Witch] powers were supposed to be very indirect. It had to be because he was undead.

Hogg rushed over and bound the floating Neptune with solid manacles. “Alright, let him go. I need to know that there’s no interference with the potion.”

“Very well,” said Bruna. She let her hand drop, and Neptune sank to the ground.

Brin had to wonder why Hogg had even bothered with the manacles. He didn’t want Bruna to see his hard light, even the ‘shadow’ versions? Maybe he didn’t trust these [Witches] as much as said he did.

Hogg forced the potion of Turn Undead down the struggling Neptune’s throat, and perversely, he just struggled against his bonds even harder.

“Calm down, Neptune. You’re free now. Tell us: who killed you? Who was your master?” asked Hogg.

Neptune stopped. He looked Hogg up and down, then sneered at Bruna. He didn’t even glance at Brin. His eyes were clear; for all intents and purposes he looked like a normal man of the Bog. His brand of undead let him fit in with regular people, and his curly brown hair and solid build could’ve fit on any number of men Brin knew.

“No one.”

“What are you saying? Neptune, we’re trying to ask who did this to you.”

“Don’t you get it?” Neptune closed his eyes. “No one. I chose this.” His eyes opened glowing yellow, and his humanity seemed to sink away. His skin grayed, his muscles bulged, and Brin started to wonder if those chains and manacles would really hold him. “Free Arcaena! Arcaena forever! ARCAENA INFINITUM!”

The cavern exploded into motion.

Gravel hit Brin like shrapnel as the piles of loose stone erupted, uncovering dozens of undead like demented volcanos. Marksi squeaked in alarm and tried to take shelter behind Brin, but they were coming from every direction.

Hogg lashed out with his magic, creating shields to protect them while already launching spears and gearing up some of those spinning blades.

Bruna transformed into something dark and spiny, and in a flutter of bat wings, streaked out of the cavern, retreating up the way they’d come.

Brin got his spear up in time to stop a charging undead, stabbing deep into its chest. Rather than press in deeper, he was forced to drop the spear to dodge a black mace aimed at his skull. He got underneath it and tackled the undead mace-wielder. He drew his glass knife and stabbed the undead three times on the way to the ground, then rolled off it, looking for the next threat.

None came. As quick as it started, the battle was over. Hogg had unleashed a tidal wave of hard light, obliterating everything that popped up. In his haste, he wasn't able to disguise all of it as shadow magic, so the undead were swallowed in a carnival of deadly color. Two green spears of light finished off Brin’s two attackers, and then all was quiet.

Only Brin, Hogg, and Marksi were still standing. No, there was one more. Neptune stood unharmed, held by many summoned chains.

Alert! You have defeated: Undead Soldier [16]

Alert! You have defeated: Undead Soldier [15]

Low-leveled. And he noticed that they were the ordinary undead. Well, there were no ordinary undead, but these were the skinny, clean, black-clad undead he was used to.

Level up! Level 14 -> 15 +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Vitality, +2 Mental Control, +1 Will, +2 free attributes. Congratulations! You have earned a new Skill.

You have 1 free general Skill.

As tempting as it was, this wasn’t the time or place to look over his options. Marksi had been hit by the shrapnel and was bleeding in a spot on his back. Brin asked if he was alright, and he twitched his tail for ‘yes’.

Neptune’s arms were raised in the air, and on closer inspection, Brin saw that he’d wrapped the chain, the real chain from the manacles, around his own neck. He called out in the Language, “>.” His body began to swell with magical strength.

“No! Stop!” Hogg yelled.

“What’s that mean?”

Hogg held his arms forward, straining to keep Neptune in place with his hard light. “It means 'I... I will choose the manner.. of my death',” he answered.

Neptune roared, and in a burst of heroic strength, against all the force of Hogg’s magic, pulled his manacled arms apart and decapitated himself with the chains.

Hogg dropped his magic and the headless corpse fell to the ground. “Damn it!” He walked over to Neptune’s corpse and furiously kicked the head, launching it deep into the cavern. It landed somewhere with a wet squish. “Damn. A true believer. How did this happen? You know what this means, right? He knew. He knew who the mole is. It’s probably the person who radicalized him. That’s why he killed himself. He couldn’t let us turn him. Arg! We were this close to breaking this whole thing wide open.”

Brin looked down at the dead undead near his feet. “They were down here. You spent all those months trying to find them in the forest. This whole time they’ve been beneath our feet.”

“Tunnels,” said Hogg. “That’s why she thinks she can really do it. Arcaena found a Burrow Kingdom somewhere in the Wastes, but to get it somewhere she can use it, she needs to cross two Kingdoms. You’d have to be mad to think that’s possible, right? Only, as long as no one finds out about it, she has all the time she needs. She’s building enormous tunnels.”

Brin’s heart fell. He’d been holding out hope that Frenaria would notice a million-strong army of undead moving through the spooky swamp on their frontier, and that Lumina would charge to their rescue in a blaze of holy fury. But there was nothing to find in the forest. They had figured that at the very least the army would have to reveal itself when it was forced to fight its way through Bragova, but if they could tunnel under a swamp they could tunnel under a mountain. No one would notice this army existed until it arrived on Arcaena’s doorstep.

It was also a bit liberating. The Queendom of Araena was far away. Far enough away that it would be someone else’s problem.

“What I don’t get is how they’re really going to get away with it. Surely someone has figured out some magical counter to tunneling,” said Brin.

“Sure, but this has the benefit of being underground and underwater,” said Hogg.

“What do you mean?”

“Come here.”

Hogg led Brin to the far end of the cavern where they found the source of the sound of moving water. There was a quickly rushing river in the floor of the cavern, some ten feet across, maybe wider if it continued under the lip of the cavern wall.

“Undead have many of the same weaknesses as us. Cut them and they bleed. Break their bones and they can’t move. But there’s one weakness we have that they don’t,” said Hogg.

“They don’t need to breathe,” said Brin.

Hogg nodded. “Tunneling through the entire Boglands should be impossible, even with an army of diggers. Water would leak in and drown everyone unless you sealed every inch and constantly pumped it out. But if you don’t need it to be waterproof that makes it infinitely easier.”

“Still,” said Brin. “It seems like an awful risk. If any section of the tunnel were discovered, it wouldn’t take that much effort to plug it up.”

“I agree. There’s something here we’re not seeing.” Hogg gazed at the water thoughtfully for a long moment. Then he nodded. “Get Marksi up above. Wash those scrapes on him with clean water. Actually, here.” Hogg pulled a clean bandage and a little flask of water out of his pockets. “Don’t use anything that belonged to Neptune. You never know what diseases he was carrying. Stay in the hut. Don’t let anyone inside, especially no [Witches]. Say it’s by order of the Prefit. If the Prefit comes by, say it’s by order of the boss. This is still Hogg Town, after all. Wait for me to return. I won’t be gone for more than a few hours. If I’m not back in a day... well, I’ll be back in a few hours, like I said.”

“Wait. What are you doing?”

Hogg popped a white pill in his mouth. “I only got one of these, and I wouldn’t bring you with me regardless. Get to the surface. We can’t be sure there aren’t more of them skulking about down here.

With that, Hogg hopped into the underground river.

The End of Part 1