Havik continued to look down into the pit where Cassius had fallen for another moment, then sneered and spat over the edge before muttering, “Creepy fuck...”

With that, she stood up from where she was kneeling next to the edge and, to my surprise, made her way back toward Cassius' room. I thought for sure she'd marched right down the stairs to finish what she started, and I was ready to follow after her, but instead, Havik stepped back into the room and joined Alius in rummaging through Cassius' personal—or perhaps stolen—effects.

I opened my mouth, ready to ask what she was doing, but then stopped. Her words to Cassius came back to me, and I realized she was likely looking for the “birthright” they'd both mentioned. Unsure of how to proceed now, I turned to Mauri. Reading the uncertainty in my gaze, Mauri scratched at her cheek and looked toward the pit briefly before giving a careless shrug.

“Might as well do some looting while we have the chance. Only fair, right?” she said as she gestured for me to follow Havik, “go on, I will stay out here and keep an eye on things.” She gave Burkin, whose calm gaze had never left the pit, a winning smile, “What say you, big man? Help me keep a lookout for your boss and the rest of his lackeys?”

Burkin just grunted in response, never moving and never taking his grey eyes away from the pit. Apparently, that was good enough for Mauri, who nodded in satisfaction and gave me that same smile. “And there you have it,” she said, “we will keep watch out here.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, giving my own worried glance toward the pit, “I mean, weren't you and Havik just talking about how we didn't have time to waste?”

“That we did, but it is clear this Alius Tempus and the blonde barbarian need some time to prepare, and preparation is important,” Mauri replied with another shrug. She tilted her head and looked me up and down before adding, “I am fine with gathering what I need once we have more time, but are you not in need of the other supplies that were taken from you?”

My eyes widened as I realized she was right. In the madness of recent events, I'd completely forgotten about my bag and the rifle I'd taken from Jack's cabin. I still hadn't had the chance to actually make use of the latter, but even so, I didn't want to leave it in the hands of Cassius and his band of brigands. At this point, I saw the firearm as more of a keepsake than anything else.

Something to remember him by...

“You're right,” I conceded. I gave the pit one last hesitant look, then turned back to Mauri with a small nod, “I'd like to say I can do without, but... there are some things I don't want to leave behind.”

There's also the books Qaedis gave me. Above all else, I don't want to lose that journal...

“Then you had best hurry and find them, my little Amethyst,” Mauri chuckled. Her expression turned serious as she continued, “I was careful to cover my tracks as I made my way through these ruins, but someone is bound to come sniffing about sooner or later.”

“Right,” I agreed with a grim nod, “just... give me a minute.”

With that, I turned and headed back into what was more or less a treasury, carefully stepping over the body of the snake-like bandit as I went. All the death didn't bother me nearly as much as I felt it should, but the sight of the bloodied corpse still made me somewhat uncomfortable, just like the dead bandit archer back in the cave.

It was unsettling, but nothing I couldn't handle. Ignoring the pungent stench of blood as best I could, I entered the room and found that Alius had already replaced his ratty clothes with a gambeson and padded trousers, and was now working his way into a suit of cobalt blue half-plate armor—the same suit of armor I'd noticed when I first entered Cassius' room, in fact.

He only just came in here, how is he already... wait, did he just strip everything off without a care for who was watching?!

I thought about it for a second, but ultimately decided not to worry about it. I hadn't seen anything after all, and if Havik or Mauri noticed, they hadn't said anything and didn't seem to care either way. For her part, Havik was on the opposite side of the room, standing in front of what I could only assume was some kind of large iron safe sat atop one of the many shelves.

From where I stood, I could see that the safe had a built-in lock that required some kind of key. Havik was leaning close to the safe and fiddling with the lock, though I couldn't quite make out what she was doing. I could see the growing frustration on her face and decided not to bother her. Instead, I scanned the room for my own pilfered belongings.

Thankfully, it didn't take me long to spot what I was looking for. At the very top of another shelf, near where Alius was strapping into his armor, I found my large travel bag. On a wall rack, not too far from that, was my rifle. Satisfied that I knew where the gun was, I left it alone for the moment and checked my bag to make sure everything was still in there. It all seemed to be, save for one thing.

I frowned and re-checked the contents, then checked it all again. Panicking slightly, I checked a fourth time, and still didn't find what I was looking for. Given how interested Cassius seemed to be in my Spellblade, I shouldn't have been surprised he might've taken it, but I couldn't help the mix of worry and anger as I turned to look around the room.

Where did he put it? Where's the journal?

Trying to quell my rising anger and panic, I did another sweep of the room, even going so far as to search Cassius' desk. While I didn't find Requis' journal, I did find a scroll sealed with a bit of black string in one of the desk drawers. I also found, by sheer luck, that the same drawer had a false bottom, beneath which I found an old iron key.

I pulled both items from the desk and looked over each of them curiously, my anger and panic briefly forgotten. Making up my mind, I set the key down on the desk and was about to untie the string keeping the scroll sealed when I heard Alius call out to me from behind.

“What's that you've got there?” he asked, walking over to me as he affixed and adjusted a scabbard on his belt, “Something interesting, I hope.”

I looked him over.

The man hadn't looked very impressive in his prison attire, the only thing really striking about him being his clear, ocean blue eyes. Now, though, Alius Tempus cut quite the striking figure in his cobalt blue armor. The sword at his hip looked to be a simple, practical thing. A longsword with a basic silver crossguard and brown leather grip. I couldn't say anything about the blade itself given it was sheathed, but I imagined it, too, was fairly simple.

I, in comparison, still looked like I'd just walked out of a slaughterhouse. My adventurer's tunic would've been perfectly serviceable had it not been for the dark and crusty red-brown stains. I'd taken the opportunity to sling my own sword, scabbard and all, over my shoulder, the baldric keeping the sheath securely in place.

“You look good,” I replied, setting my thoughts aside and deciding a compliment was in order, “the armor suits you surprisingly well.”

“Ah, well, I'm glad to hear you think so,” Alius chuckled, looking himself over and adjusting his belt, “I've lost a bit of weight since I last wore this old thing, but I'm happy to find it still fits well enough.” Nodding in satisfaction, Alius nodded towards the scroll in my hand, “Now, what's that all about?”

“Not sure,” I replied, frowning at the bit of rolled up parchment, “I found it in Cassius' desk—” I nodded toward the desk “—along with that key.”

“Key?” came Havik's hopeful voice from where she stood by the safe, “What key?”

I'd been trying to ignore the woman's increasingly loud and violent expletives as she tried, and presumably failed, to get the safe open. Now she perked up, turning to look around for the key I'd mentioned. She spotted the thing on the desk soon enough and hurried over to snatch it up with a relieved, “Oh, thank the fucking Goddesses!”

Alius and I watched as Havik placed a small tool that looked a bit like a screwdriver back into a hidden pocket beneath her breastplate and raced back over to the safe. I didn't get so much as a nod of thanks for finding what was apparently the key to the safe, but I chose not to hold it against Havik. That was just the kind of woman she was.

And I found the thing by complete chance anyway.

I shook my head and was about to return my attention to the scroll, when my curiosity got the better of me. I found the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to know what was in the safe. I had a pretty good idea what Havik was looking for, but there was also the chance that Cassius might've decided to put the journal in there as well.

I hadn't been able to find it anywhere else, and given how valuable the knowledge was, it would only make sense. With that in mind, I followed Havik to the safe. I heard Alius sigh, but he followed me a moment later. Whether he was also curious or was just humoring me, I didn't know or particularly care. We both watched as Havik used the old key to open the safe.

The first thing that caught my eye was the small round shield, about 50 centimeters in diameter. The shield was made of a black metal with a gilded edge and the stylized image of a snarling bear's head painted in gold on the front. The shield—a targe according to Havik—looked like it had seen plenty of use over the years, but still somehow gave off a feeling of impenetrability.

“There you are,” Havik muttered as she almost reverently reached into the safe and pulled out the small shield, “finally back where you belong.”

She completely ignored the time-worn journal resting against the front of the shield as she retrieved her targe. She let the precious piece of history fall right out of the safe, where it would have hit the ground had I not used telekinesis to save it. Resting it back in my hand, I confirmed that it was indeed the journal of Requis the Wise. Letting out a sigh of relief, I used my magic to float the ancient text over to my travel bag.

I slipped it inside and closed the bag before turning back to the safe. The iron lockbox was big, but not that big. It was more deep than it was tall, with its height only just enough to contain Havik's shield. A lot of what was left behind the shield appeared to be more scrolls and various other types of documents. Other than that, I didn't see anything else of interest.

Havik was busy examining her targe, looking it over, testing its weight. She slipped it onto her right arm and took a few steps back before unsheathing her sword and shifting into some sort of battle stance. Her stance was low, with her shield arm and right foot forward and her sword arm lowered to her hip with the blade facing slightly out and back.

I watched her move the shield as if to block some incoming attacks and make a few rapid thrusts with her sword a few times. I'd known she was a capable warrior before, but with the shield added, her movements looked a lot more easy and efficient. Comfortable, almost. She made the moves look simple when I was sure they were anything but.

So, this is her true fighting style, then? Could she beat Mauri now, I wonder?

I didn't get a chance to wonder for long, as Alius caught my attention. To my surprise, he stepped past me with a polite “Pardon me,” and began rifling through the documents in the safe. He would pull out a thin sheaf of papers, sort through them, frown, then put them back only to reach for another sheaf of papers. It wasn't long before my curiosity once more got the better of me.

“What are you looking for?” I finally asked, “Did Cassius take something from you, too? Besides the armor?”

“He did,” Alius replied distractedly before explaining, “I was on my way to Ruvenbor to deliver some vital details regarding a nasty fiend hiding out somewhere in the area, you see, and on the way I was—ah, here we are!”

After several tries, the ex-prisoner finally pulled out another thin sheaf of papers tied together by a dark blue string. I wasn't close enough to make out what was written on the first page, but near the bottom on the right, I could see that the page was stamped with the very familiar image of a tower shield was a crescent moon design over two crossed swords.

“That's the insignia of the Order of Nox Atra, right?” I asked with a frown, “you were delivering information to the Order? Are you... are you a member?”

“Indeed I was and indeed I am, though my home branch lies across the Celestial Sea, far beyond Vale's borders,” Alius replied as he tucked the documents away in a rectangular leather pouch attached to his belt. Once the reports were secure, he turned to me with a strangely intense look as he continued, “It's a terribly long story and I would be glad to tell it another time, but right now, I'm more interested in you, Miss Sparkle.”

“Me?” I asked, bemused and slightly taken aback, “What about me?”

“Ha, listen to this one! 'What about me' she says!” he chortled, shaking his head in disbelief. He sighed, then gave me that strangely intense look again, “Miss Sparkle. Amethyst. You are a Spellblade wielder. A true Spellblade wielder. You wield the kind of arcane power most men will never see in their lifetimes, as easily as one would draw breath.”

“Oh... right. That.” I grimaced and tore my eyes from his focused stare, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. Though Cassius had reminded me earlier of how shocking such abilities were to the people of this world, I was so used to my own magic by now that I'd already completely forgotten. Unsure what to say in response, I just shrugged. “Well... y'know. It is what it is, I guess.”

“Bet she also never mentioned that she's a bloodthirsty psychopath,” Havik called as she moved through another series of thrusts and parries before sheathing her blade once more. She gave Alius a wicked grin when he turned to look questioningly at her. “The only reason Cassius even knew about her in the first place was because she slaughtered all of my men and most of the bandits that came to take her back to Cassius. And she laughed while she did it.”

I winced as Alius rounded on me with a look that was somehow both bewildered and assessing. I wanted to argue the point, but the truth was... I couldn't. Havik was absolutely right. There was clearly something wrong with me—something that was, as of right now, beyond my control. I tried to push it down, but in reality, I was worried about the likely imminent struggle against Cassius.

There's no telling if or when that madness will take me again. I really need to find out what's happening to me and how to stop it, but I don't even know where to begin looking for answers...

I didn't say anything as Alius looked me up and down. His concerned yet thoughtful gaze lingered on my bloody tunic. After a second, he cleared his throat and scratched at his neck awkwardly before giving me a helpless smile. “Well, I suppose we all have our quirks,” he finally said, then shrugged, “I've worked with my fair share of odd characters back home.”

“Oh?” Havik said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall near the locked iron door at the back of the room, “You get many folks like her in the Order?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Alius sighed, “more than a few. Mostly those driven mad by past traumas. Having your family killed in front of you or your village razed to the ground by monsters tends to make one a little... unhinged.”

“Really?” Havik raised an eyebrow before turning her golden eyes on me, “And what about you, purple locks? What's your excuse?”

“I... well, I... uh...” I hesitated, but decided to throw caution to the wind and tell her and Alius both what happened. Alius was a member of the Order, so I figured he might know something about my condition. So, taking a deep breath, I spoke, “I kind of... killed a monster, and it infected me somehow. A poison that makes you insane, maybe? I don't know.”

“A monster, you say?” Alius asked, his brow furrowing, “what monster was this?”

“I don't know what it is or where it came from,” I replied, “but from what I've heard, people call it the Headhunter.”

Just saying the name seemed to bring back that oppressive feeling of malice and bloodthirst. I could feel myself breaking out in a cold sweat and tried to suppress the fear and anxiety welling up within me. I was so overwhelmed by the sensation that it took me a second to realize the other two hadn't reacted to my words.

I refocused my attention and saw that both Havik and Alius were on full alert. Hands on their swords and eyes darting about, they looked as if they were preparing to be ambushed at any moment. This confused me, until Havik spoke, and that's when I realized that feeling of malice and bloodthirst wasn't just in my head.

“Damn, looks like we might be out of time,” Havik muttered as she warily scanned the room for threats, “Either of you feel that?”

“A fiend,” Alius replied, his voice more severe than I'd ever heard it before, “and a powerful one at that. But where...?”

“Wait, this is coming from a fiend? But Cassius...” Havik paused, her face twisting in bemusement for some reason. Then she turned to me with a strange expression I couldn't quite parse, and her next words confused me. “Damn... maybe you really are a devil bitch...”

Before I had time to even guess at what she meant, Alius spoke, his tone urgent. “Miss Sparkle, that scroll. Let me see it, quickly,” he said, holding out a hand to accept the rolled up bit of parchment I'd forgotten I'd been holding on to all this time.

I looked from Alius to the scroll, then back to Alius. The man had a calculating expression, like he was trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together in his head as he waited for me to give him the scroll in question. Having no reason to refuse him, I handed the sealed scroll over, and it practically vanished from my hand as he snatched it away.

I shared a look with Havik and we both watched as Alius removed the string keeping the scroll closed and unfurled it. His eyes moved back and forth as he read the letter and with each passing second, his face grew more and more pale—his grim expression morphing into a white mask of horror. Eventually, the piece of parchment slipped from his shaking fingers, but he paid it no mind as he slowly turned to stare at the metal door with the heavy padlock at the back of the room.

“Those bastards,” he hissed in a shaky whisper. His trembling hands clenched into trembling fists and anger bled into the fear on his face, “so that's why... the reports of spies, Grynda's strange movements in Flumaen... it was all a cover... This whole damn war is a bloody farce...”

I tried to figure out what Alius was talking about, but I was quickly losing track of the situation. I remembered talking to Mauri about Vale's war with Grynda and vaguely recalled her mentioning something about a port city called Flumaen. I also remembered Mauri telling me that there was a big worry about Gryndan spies in and around Ruvenbor, but beyond the important points, the conversation was hazy in my mind.

I followed Alius' gaze to the locked metal door and tried to peer through the small iron bars in the small window built into the door, but all I could see was complete darkness. Still, the closer I tried to look, the stronger that sinister sensation seemed to grow, and I had to look away after a point. Instead, I turned to see what Havik thought of all this, but her eyes were on the letter that had fallen to the floor.

I was shocked to see that her expression had grown just as pale and horrified as Alius'. When I looked down at the piece of parchment, it took me a second to realize what had Havik so spooked, but then I saw yet another insignia stamped upon the letter and I understood. The discussion I had with Mauri back in the cave ran through my mind as I stared at the image of a wispy black butterfly imprinted upon the bottom of the letter.

“The Cult?” Havik whispered, her voice shaking with fear and barely suppressed rage, “that fucker is with the Cult?”

Cassius was evidently a member of the Cult of the Black Butterfly—that, or he had some other connection to them. Thinking back on the man and his eerie look and presence, it made perfect sense to me. I wasn't at all surprised at the revelation and, in fact, that was just more reason to kill the man—an outcome I was becoming disturbingly okay with.

“We need to leave,” Alius said suddenly. He walked over to where he'd dropped the letter and bent down to pick it back up. Placing it in his rectangular pouch with the other documented he'd collected, he turned to me and Havik, “I have to make for Ruvenbor as soon as possible. Both the Order and the King need to know of what has transpired here and of the twisted game the Cult is playing within the shadows.”

“Leave?” Havik scoffed, then snarled, “I'm not leaving until I've gutted that son of a bitch. I don't care what you need to do. I'm gonna tear out Cassius' fucking throat before I go anywhere.”

Alius was in Havik's face before I could blink, his mouth creased down in a grim scowl as he hissed, “I understand your need for vengeance, but we can't stay here.” He cast the locked metal door a side glance before looking back to Havik. “There is more at play here than any of us realize. Cassius will pay his dues, but now is not the time to—”

“You don't understand shit!” Havik snapped, shoving Alius back and glaring at him with eyes full of fire, “That man—that worm—needs to die, and I'm gonna be the one to kill him, got it? I don't give a fuck about your 'bigger picture'.” She reached down and ripped her sword out of its scabbard before holding it up for Alius to see as she said in a slow, dangerous tone, “The only thing I care about, is plunging this blade through that man's skull.”

You're quite welcome to try, little barbarian princess of the North...

A chill ran down my spine as the androgynous voice echoed from seemingly everywhere at once. The condescending tone did nothing to hide the absolute fury in Cassius' voice. All eyes in the room snapped to the open doorway at the sound. Outside, I could see both Burkin and Mauri backing away from the edge of the pit, their swords drawn and their bodies tensing in preparation for a fight.

“If you three are quite done in there, I highly suggest you join us out here,” Mauri called out without taking her eyes from the pit, “I think the situation might be a bit more... harrowing than we expected.”

I looked to Havik and Alius, who both shared brief looks. Havik gave the man one last sneer before adjusting the targe on her right arm and rushing out of the room to join Mauri and Burkin outside. Alius watched her go with a strained, frustrated expression, then gave a resigned sigh before drawing forth his own sword. He looked at me.

“I pray the magic of the Spellblade wielders is as powerful as the legends claim it to be,” he said before giving me a rueful smile, “now then, let's try to finish this quickly, shall we?”

He didn't wait for me to give an answer as he dashed past the desk and followed Havik out of the room. I was left standing there as I tried to collect my thoughts. So many things had come to light in the past few minutes that I felt entirely lost. Rather than answers, I had far more questions now than ever before. Unfortunately, though, I couldn't afford to dwell on them.

Cassius was awake, and from the sound of it, he was crawling his way back up. I had to act, and this time, I wouldn't hesitate to act. I didn't feel the familiar malicious glee bubbling up from the depths of where that madness had taken root, and prayed it would stay that way as I, too, headed out of the room to face whatever Cassius was.

It was just as I arrived to join the rest of the group, my hands glowing with unreleased magic, that Cassius made his appearance. I had to bite back a horrified scream at what had quite literally crawled out of the pit. It was Cassius, but at the same time, it was nothing like the man. It wasn't a man at all, in fact. The thing that emerged from the pit was closer to a spider than anything else, but that wasn't quite right either.

Six long, pale, spindly limbs jutted out from the back of Cassius' robes, which he used to work his way slowly up the massive tree roots like some kind of humanoid insect. His original arms and legs had also grown significantly in length, but rather than use them to crawl, the limbs twitched and jerked sporadically, like he was suffering a seizure.

And then there was his face.

Each and every movement of his body was entirely unnatural and creepy, but his face remained completely passive. So passive, in fact, that I was certain it actually was a porcelain mask. I was proven right when his face began to split and crack in various places. It wasn't just his face either, but all of his limbs had small cracks, all of which oozed a foul and viscous grey-black pus.

Something in my mind turned over at the sight, but Cassius spoke before I could place the thought. Again, his voice echoed out eerily from every corner of the room, and again I was struck by how utterly repulsive the creature was. The burning need to end his existence mixed strangely with my fear, and I wasn't sure exactly what I was feeling at the moment.

I hadn't wanted it to come to this... ah, but such is life, I suppose... I've important work to do here, and I can't afford such setbacks. This dilemma warrants a proper response, so I hope you'll forgive my wretched state as I do what needs to be done.

Next Chapter: Episode VII – The Bandits ~ End Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes