2.10

2.10

Nestra used momentum to ram herself against the wall by the gate just as it opened. She instinctively drew in everything she was— though she didn’t reapply her mask, Praying to every god she could think of that they didn’t see her.

A trio of gleams walked in. There was an archer, a close quarter fighter with a tower shield, and a mage with long staff. The mage’s eyes were a dim orange which spoke of a nascent fire affinity. She directed the pair with a single flick of her hand. Fortunately, their eyes were on the portal, not her.

“What’s the meaning of this? Was somebody there?”

Nestra ducked and used momentum to propel herself into the other room, an antechamber of sorts. Two guards sat behind a reinforced glass panel, checking screens. There were no hiding spots there, only a concrete square devoid of anything save for the two gates leading to the portal and to the outside, and a door leading to the guard room. Both of the latter were tragically closed. Nestra landed squarely below the glass in full view of a camera but hidden from direct line of sight.

“There’s a letter here, it— ah! Fire! Why is it on fire?” a male voice said behind her.

“Idiot! Don’t touch anything. Guards, you’d better have a good explanation.”

“We’re having glitches on our equipment ma’am. Running diagnostics.”

“Who did you let in?”Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

“Nobody, I swear!”

“Well SOMEONE was here. I have to report this.”

Meanwhile, Nestra’s mind was running three curse words on repeat. Could she take them? Probably not. Would it do anything? Also probably not. She needed out, now. Maybe cut through the gate? A coated blade and three slices ought to do it but... she would be noticed.

“Alright, we’re leaving for now. I want our boss to take a look at this,” the mage said. “Open the gate.”

That was it. Nestra was done for. The mage walked in her field of vision just as the other gate opened. Nestra had to make a run for it.

There was a pressure, like a brief idea brushing her psyche. The mage stopped in her tracks. Her breath hitched. Her face turned despondent. Nestra sprinted outside through the newly opened passage, then jumped over the nearest fence using momentum. She didn’t look behind but all she heard was silence.

This was food that the corpos wouldn’t get.

She was finally taking her life back, one meal at a time.

“I’m going to eat this criminal magical popcorn with butter and nobody can fucking stop me.”

***

In the headquarter of the Gray Shield guild, a gleam tapped on his visor with barely contained annoyance.

“Yes. The chair flickered in at around four AM. The glitches were continuous afterward. Yes. No, nothing that we could see.”

He kept silent when his interlocutor spoke in a sterner tone.

“Yes, I understand. We will transfer everything. Understood. The compensation is more than enough for us. Yes, you can count on our discretion. I will make sure my team understands the importance of their silence. We will comply, sir. Yes, I consider the matter closed. Thank you for your time.”

The gleam’s annoyance turned to dread as the call ended. He delicately placed the visor on his desk, then massaged the bridge of his nose. When he opened his eyes again, the pulsating silvery radiance betrayed his distress.

“What the hell was that?”

***

In Nestra’s mind palace, another rotating sphere had joined the more ordered dance. The puddle underneath had grown as well, just a little, but it was still barely enough to coat her blade a few times. The newly improved sphere was the one that dealt with awareness and keen senses. Nestra had one more bound to play with.

That meant she had to make a choice. Instinct told her that linking the sphere to strength would help her destabilize foes while linking it to speed would let her perform a very precise strike. The second choice was the more immediately useful, she felt. Maybe she was wrong. It was hard to say without knowing exactly what she would be up against. Once the bond was formed, Nestra returned to sleep while promising herself not to try to throw her chef knife at her cutting board ‘as an experiment’. She would do things right this time.