Chapter 14 - The Secret's Out (Patreon)

The three of us crammed into the little hallway outside the personal space entrance. Lyria produced the key and handed it to me.

 “Wait,” I said as a thought occurred to me. “Does it matter whose personal space I’m in when I claim my loot?”

“No,” Lyria said.

“Can we use yours, Circa?” I asked.

“I don’t… I’m not sure that’s wise.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Dirty underwear on the floor?”

The woman actually looked flustered. She tucked her platinum blonde hair behind an ear and took the key between her fingers. “If you wish to use my room, we can.”

“I’d like to see it,” I said. “Lyria’s just a lowly town guard, and she has a magical, heated bathtub. I’m curious what a fancy Silver has in her room.”

Lyria didn’t look like she appreciated my sarcasm.

Circa turned the key and let us into a palatial room. The floor was polished stone, and a wall of windows looked out over a view of a waterfall. The waterfall must have been some kind of mirage because any window from the inn should’ve shown crowded shops and houses of Riverwell. There was a full-blown kitchen, a room full of potions and herbs, a room with several wooden training dummies, a huge bedroom with a gold-gilded bed, and even an extensive library.

Lyria was too awed to hide how impressed she was. She turned slowly, jaw hanging open.

“Wow,” I said. “This is amazing.”

The wood-paneled walls were lined with paintings on ornate canvases. I approached one that looked like it depicted Circa with a fluffy white cat in her lap. I grinned. “Is this you?”

She lifted her hand and waved it subtly. The painting flickered and was replaced by a landscape.

“Hey, Brynn,” Lyria said. “Look at this. It looks like…”

Circa waved her hand again, and the painting in front of Lyria flickered. I had just enough time to glimpse what looked like me in a full suit of armor to match my helmet. I had the same horned helmet tucked under my arm and wore an imposing glare like I was about to smite somebody. 

Lyria was staring. “That armor… can you bring the picture back?”

I met Circa’s eyes and could tell she was desperately trying to tell me not to say anything. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. Circa, you take Lyria over to that couch and ask her everything you can think of to ensure she’s trustworthy.”
 “I don’t see why we should even consider what you’re considering,” Circa said.

Lyria was looking between the two of us, confusion plain on her face. She was likely still trying to figure out why a Silver seemed to be deferring to my authority.
 “Would you please do what I asked?” I said tightly. I knew she wouldn’t agree, but I didn’t particularly care. Someone like Circa would probably prefer to go her whole life miserable, alone, and safe in her secret. But it sounded like I was supposed to climb back to the absolute peaks of power. If Seraphel was me, then I knew I wouldn’t have gone it alone. I would’ve found people I trusted and brought them in.

Maybe it seemed crazy to bring someone like Lyria in, but some of the best friends I’d ever made had started out as enemies or annoyed acquaintances. I saw a lot of potential with her.
 Circa finally nodded when she saw I wasn’t giving it up, then jerked her head for Lyria to follow her.
 I paced around the room while Circa asked Lyria every question under the sun. At first, Lyria was reluctant to answer and play along, but eventually, she opened up for Circa.
 Circa finally stood abruptly, leaving Lyria on the couch to come stand beside me. “I can’t say for certain, but I believe she’s who she says she is. I still don’t think it’s wise to share this with anyone.”

“I need people I can be open with for my own sanity. Besides,” I said, smiling a little. “I’ve got a Silver bodyguard. If she looks like she’s about to run off and tell the wrong people, you can just vaporize her, right? And I’ll slow it down after we tell her.”
 Circa looked very serious. “I’ll watch her carefully.”
 “Good. Now, can you change that painting back? The one of the guy in the armor?”
 She met my eyes for a long moment, then obeyed, replacing the landscape with the image again. It was me. I walked closer, staring at the depiction with an odd, swirling sense of unreality in my chest.

I felt Lyria getting up from the couch to come look as well. The painting was supposed to help her understand the truth, but it also did strange things to my brain. 

This was me. It was Seraphel. I wore a full set of blue metal armor that looked made from windows to the night sky. I held an odd segmented weapon in one hand. It looked like a cross between a whip and a sword, but each chunk of metal seemed bound together by a different element. I saw everything from ice to fire and odd, probably magical things like a purple void and something black that was casting off circular motes. There were eight other hazy figures in the painting behind me, but they were all shrouded by a mist seeping out of me.

“Why do…” Lyria was whispering. “Why do you have a painting of Brynn like this? I thought you just met him?”

“Go ahead,” I said. 

Circa repeated everything she’d told me back at the adventurer’s guild. At first, Lyria just shook her head and laughed, but Circa had several more paintings and even a few books in her library that eventually were enough to convince her.

By the time she was done, Lyria was sitting on a couch in Circa’s safe room, eyes distant.

“We need you to keep this quiet,” I said. I hadn’t spoken in a while, figuring it would all probably be much more convincing coming from Circa than me, anyway. “Circa says there are people who would try to kill me if they knew.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Lyria said. “You’re Seraphel. Gods,” she swore, then laughed, looking up at me as if realizing her common curse technically included the guy standing before her. “I never really believed in the story of The Nine. I thought Ithariel made all that up.”

“But you won’t tell anyone, right? We need to know we can trust you,” I asked.

“Or what? You won’t let me leave this room?”
 The silence from me and Circa probably said plenty.

Lyria looked down, then shrugged. “Look. If you’re not working for Ithariel, you’re alright in my book. Simple as that.”

“So we can trust you?”
 “Why would I tell anyone? I’d be just as likely to get thrown into a dark hole and forgotten about as you are. They wouldn’t bother figuring out if I’d been in league with you. Besides, I don’t want to help Ithariel. That asshole can’t be bothered to protect the outer rings, and places like my hometown pay the price. So, yes, you can trust me. But all I’m doing is keeping an eye on you while you’re here in Riverwell. Then you can leave town, do your important destiny crap, and we’ll both forget we ever knew each other.”

I had to admit I felt a little let down by her response. Part of me assumed she’d want to travel with us, wherever that may be.

“Wonderful,” Circa said. “We’ve convinced the guard girl of the truth. I suggest we get on with claiming your tokens, My Lord.”

I raised a hand. “Can you not call me ‘My Lord’? Where I come from—or where I most recently remember coming from, that would feel super weird and even sarcastic. I can’t get used to that. Just call me Brynn, please. It’s probably good practice for when we’re out in public.”

Circa inclined her head.

“Just one thing,” Lyria said, raising a finger before I could ask how to claim a token. “If a god can be level one, what even makes them a god?”

“That is a question only The Nine could answer,” she said. “Well, I suppose now it’s a question only eight of the nine could answer…”

I gave a sheepish smile. “Unfortunately, true. I have no idea.”

“I can venture a guess if My Lord wills it. If Brynn wills it,” she corrected herself.

“Go ahead,” I said. I was just as curious as Lyria, after all.

“The mortal ranks are Wood, Iron, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Mythril. By all accounts, nobody has ever been able to identify Ithariel’s rank. The same was written about the rest of The Nine. I believe The Nine found a way to transcend the mortal ranks. If any of the handful of current Mythrils on Eros knows a path to that kind of power, they certainly aren’t about to share it. In other words, the gods may be like us for now. But I think they’ll know the secret to pushing beyond the boundaries of mortal ranks. All of them except Seraphel, I suppose.”

“Everybody around here is acting like you’re some force of nature,” I said. “And you’re only the third rank out of six? Well, seven, I guess, if you count this mysterious rank above all the rest.”

Lyria answered this time. “It’s like I told you before. The vast majority of people live and die as Woods. It’s just the way it is. Most sane people never even try to push themselves in combat. Of those that do, it’s more common than not to die before they get anywhere. And most people will go their whole life without ever setting eyes on a Diamond. If Mythrils are out there, I’ve never seen one.”

Circa inclined her head in agreement.

“So,” Lyria said. “You say he has potential, but I see a Wood in a robe with a fancy helmet.”

“You should watch your tone,” Circa said through her teeth.

“It’s okay, Circa. I don’t know what kind of guy Seraphel was, but I’m just me. I don’t want either of you to treat me like something special. Lyria can call me an idiot if she feels like it.”

“You’re an idiot,” she said quickly. 

I nodded. “See? That was fine.”

Circa looked uncomfortable but inclined her head again.

“There are two things I haven’t shared, though. Maybe they’re a small part of what gives me an edge,” I said. I considered waiting to explain until Lyria wasn’t around, but part of me still thought she would change her mind about staying behind. And even if she did stay, I doubted anybody would believe her about this part.
 I pulled up my tooltip and read off the information about my prestige path and “divine ability,” which let me delete items.

From how Circa reacted, I could tell she hadn’t expected any of that. “Deleting any item. That explains why Seraphel was known as the cursed god. Stories said he used several very powerful cursed items, but nobody ever understood how he could’ve survived the risk of accepting so many curses. If he could delete anything… it makes more sense.”

“Prestige?” Lyria asked in a low whisper. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Yes…” Circa said, eyebrows furrowed. “You cannot repeat what you’ve told us to anyone. Not a soul.”

They stared at me in a way I didn’t particularly like. I shifted a bit on the couch, feeling uncomfortable. “Well,” I said, hoping to clear the air. “Maybe we should focus on something we can control for now. Has anybody else been dying to get this loot party started?”