Advent of Eternity - Chapter 122 (Patreon)

Her body vanished, snapping back to her feet as the wound vanished. Nyra drew in a startled gasp. Her hands shot up to her neck, feeling for a cut that wasn’t there.

Mutters passed around the room, and several people murmured a prayer under their breaths.

“What are you?” Furgus asked, his face pallid. He gripped the neck of his bottle so tightly that his knuckles turned white around it.

“Irritated,” Knell replied, continuing to examine the corpses with the end of his staff. It took a few minutes of searching, but he managed to locate the Boon their tracker with only a little brutalizing of his body. He wiped it off on the man’s shirt, then put it into his pack and spoke again. “News must travel slowly to Apton. I’m sure you’ll find out more soon enough.”

The door swung open with a bang. Everyone spun toward it as Cyll sauntered in, wearing a new set of clothes that, for once, fit him perfectly. The grin on Cyll’s face faded as he looked around the room.

“Cap, did you kill stuff without me? You know that’s my favorite part!”

“Consider it punishment for dragging in strays,” Knell replied. “I apologize again for the mess, Furgus. I will do my best to avoid killing anyone else inside your inn.”

The bartender just stared at him as Knell limped over toward the door, Maya and Nyra following after him. They stepped out into the cold night streets and set off down one, leaving the inn in their wake.

“What was that about?” Stix asked. “And why is Nyra with us now? I thought we weren’t allied.”

“I’m not so sure we are,” Nyra muttered, rubbing her neck. “Your captain just killed me.”

“Oh, he does that,” Stix said, waving a hand dismissively. “You’ll get used to it.”

Nyra’s eye twitched. “How often do you kill your own men?”

“When the fancy strikes me,” Knell said without a hint of mirth. Nyra gaped at him, only realizing he was joking when she spotted Cyll’s grin.

“What kind of monster kills his own men?”

“One that gets results. And stop being dramatic,” Knell said. “Do you feel dead?”

“Well, no. But you slit my throat.”

“And then I un-slit it. You don’t see me complaining about things that people didn’t do, do you?”

“I – undoing something doesn’t mean it never happened.”

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing your opinion isn’t of relevance,” Knell said. “I am fulfilling our agreement. If you wanted me to baby you, then you should have offered up more.”

They wound into the city, soon arriving at the start of the market area. It was mostly empty, with only a few people still wandering around and either packing their goods up or preparing them for the next day.

Knell drew up to the Singing Anvil’s entrance and peered through the window. The faint flicker of flame from the forge danced in the main room, but the doors had been closed and it was silent inside. He rapped his staff against the window gently.

“What are you doing?” Nyra asked.

“Knocking.”

“I meant why are you bringing us to a smithy?”

“Because I need an Artificer’s services,” Knell replied, shaking his head in befuddlement. “Why else?”

“You know what? Never mind.”

Through the window, Knell watched Owen step out of the forge, a small frown on his face. He saw Knell and his face went pale. Owen let out a slew of curses as he approached the doors and pulled one of them open.

“I thought a devil had come for me,” Owen said, pressing a hand to his chest. “What are you doing, you madman? What could possibly drive you to come by at this hour?”

“I decided on what I wanted you to make me.”

Owen sighed. He rubbed his hands off on his leather apron. “Of course you did. And you couldn’t wait until tomorrow to tell me?”

“What would the point of that be? I was on the way, and you struck me as a man that stays up late working.”

“Unfortunately,” Owen said, scrunching his nose. “Right then. Come inside, I guess.”

Knell followed Owen into the smithy and the door swung shut behind them. Several minutes later, he stepped back out into the street and set back off, the others falling in line behind him.

“What was that about?” Nyra asked.

“Still none of your concern. It does not involve you,” Knell replied. “I am honoring the word of our agreement. You are alive. My business beyond that is my own.”

Coal bobbed empathetically on Knell’s shoulder, clacking his beak in agreement. Nyra squinted at the large bird.

“So you are. I’ll give you that,” Nyra said.

They reached the city gates and stepped out into the open night. After for continuing for another few minutes, Knell stopped walking and turned back to Nyra. “Your turn to lead.”

“I’m going to need more time to fully recover,” Nyra said. “If we go now, I’m not going to be very useful. It’s not that easy to recover from a near fatal wound, you know.”

“We can rest there. I don’t want to stand around and waste even more energy on worthless adventurers,” Knell replied. He paused, then cocked his head to the side. “Unless they’ve all got Boons too. You really are quite convenient. Do you know how hard it normally is to get my hands on them? I have to actually look for Scions to kill. They just show up for you.”

“Lucky me,” Nyra muttered. She walked to the front of the party and started off the path, leading the party inland. “I thought the old guy was the exception, but are you all insane?”

“No. It’s just him and Knell,” Stix said. “We’re still working on it. I’m sure I’ll have lost it soon enough.”

“You’re speaking as if you aren’t just as bad,” Maya pointed out. “You’ve got a fifteen thousand gold bounty. There’s no way you haven’t done at least something to earn that.”

“Not denying that,” Nyra replied with a snort. “I killed a few people. They all deserved it. Killing the wrong person ends up getting you more attention than you were looking for, though.”

“Someone high up in the guild?” Cyll guessed.

“Something like that. They didn’t take kindly to it, so I got tossed in with the rest of their top enemies. Funny how life works, eh? I can’t complain too much. I needed fodder to train against. The bounty has been pretty helpful.”

“Until you almost got killed,” Cyll said. “Not too smart, that. I like to avoid getting killed by not dying. Have you considered giving it a try?”

Nyra squinted at Cyll. “That’s rich, coming from you. I thought my regenerative abilities were strong, but you’re on an entirely different level. Can you even die?”

Cyll’s eyes flicked over to Knell. He let out a heavy sigh. “Gods damn it. Did you have to say that?”

“Say what?”

“I’m not giving him my socks again,” Stix declared. “Maya can do it.”

“Absolutely not. I don’t have enough to spare. Knell, find a better punishment for him.”

“What are literally any of you talking about?” Nyra asked. “Did I get hit on the head?”

“Not yet,” Knell replied. “Cyll. Seriously? Are you incapable of going through a single fight without showing your abilities to everyone with eyes?”

“In my defense, Cap, I was lookin for people with two eyes. One of hers is always hidden behind that ropey hair, so I didn’t see her. It’s not my fault.”

“That might possibly be the worst excuse I’ve ever heard,” Knell said. Nyra touched her hair, sending an offended glance at Cyll.

“Did you just call my hair ropey?”

“It’s easier to say than seaweedy.”

“Says the withered old man with the roadkill plastered to his chin.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just insult my luscious beard. All the ladies love my beard. It’s a work of art renowned by all.”

“Only piece of free advice you’re going to get from me – don’t engage Cyll,” Knell said.

“Noted,” Nyra replied.

They continued in silence. The night was still and the air motionless. Silver light bore down from the moon above, just barely illuminating the sloping hills. Nyra marched onward, stopping every once and a while to close her eyes and look up into the sky, as if in prayer.

Their path wrapped around the side of the island and up to a sandy beach near its northern edge. A long patch of rose bushes ran alongside the beach. They continued along the beach for nearly an hour before coming to a stop at a plain patch of sand amidst several sharp rocks that jutted out in every direction.

“It’s here?” Cyll asked, glancing around. He poked one of the rocks. “Kind of pretty. Like a place I would sit and make flower crowns.”

He plucked a flower from one of the bushes and put it in his hair. Everyone ignored him.

“The dungeon is hidden for a reason,” Nyra said. “It’s not easy to open.”

“We can’t just walk into it?” Knell asked, blinking. “I thought the whole point of dungeons was for people to clear them. What’s the point of making it difficult to enter?”

“Those are the dungeons that the gods made,” Nyra said, spitting on the ground.

“So who made this one?” Stix asked.

“No clue. Not them. They wouldn’t hate them so much if they had,” Nyra replied. She pulled her ratty shoes off and stuck her feet into the sand, wiggling deeper into it. Cyll – who still had no shoes, despite his new outfit – shrugged and did the same.

“What are you doing?” Nyra asked.

“At the moment, I am wiggling my toes in the sand.”

“Why?”

“Because it looked like you were having fun.”

“I am not having fun. I’m trying to connect to the earth. The entire dungeon is alive, and it’s protected by an earth elemental. They don’t speak common, but it’ll open a path to the dungeon if I ask properly.”

Cyll raised an eyebrow. “And you do that by sticking your feet on it? Kinky elemental.”

“Is he always like this?” Nyra asked, pressing her lips together.

“Yes.”

Cyll sat back in the sand and squirmed around a little, snickering to himself. “Behold. I can speak to the elemental as well. I wonder if it’ll appreciate this more or less than feet.”

“Every time he opens his mouth, I lose a little bit of the respect I had for his abilities,” Nyra said. “How do you deal with it?”

“Killing him.”

“Every time you open your mouth, I get a little more worried that I might have made a deal with a devil.”

The ground rumbled. Nyra stumbled, still not fully recovered, and Knell hooked her shoulder with the end of his staff to keep her from falling. Everyone other than Cyll scrambled back as the sand started to spiral into a sinkhole centered around the immortal.

“What in the Sixteen Seas is happening?” Maya yelled, wading backward to avoid getting pulled into the center of the hole. She grabbed Knell by the back of his shirt before he lost his own balance and pitched forward.

“I don’t know!” Nyra snapped. “I didn’t get a chance to do anything! Someone should grab Cyll before–”

Cyll’s head vanished beneath the sand. The rumbling continued for several more seconds before finally coming to a stop. As the last of the sand fell away, it revealed a stone passageway that led straight into the earth. They all stared into it.

“Cyll?” Knell called.

“Having a lovely time down here,” Cyll’s voice echoed up from within the hole. “Does this mean it liked my ass more than Seaweed’s?”

“Don’t call me that,” Nyra snapped, but she couldn’t wipe the baffled expression from her face. She leaned closer to Knell and lowered her voice to keep Cyll from overhearing her. “How did he do that?”

“Perhaps the elemental liked his ass more than yours,” Knell replied with a smirk. “How deep is the drop, Cyll?”

“Not too deep,” Cyll called back. “Jump. I’ll catch you.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great–”

The rest of Nyra’s sentence vanished as Knell pushed her into the hole. Her curses trailed in the air behind her, growing fainter as she plummeted into the hidden dungeon.