—

Sarita was returning from the deep sea. She had been deep in some of the farthest caves still within the gravitational field. Somebody, probably decades ago, had setup a small rest house all the way near the edge of the field.

There wasn’t much in regards to amenities but it did provide a small safe haven from the deep waters and allow for some rest. Sarita had renovated the place and it was full of books and tools. Sometime she would spend days at a time out there away from even those that could show up at the resort.

When she opened her mouth to speak she revealed a mouthful of pointed teeth. “It is rude to stare you know.” There was a raspy edge to her voice like her teeth didn’t quite agree with with the language she was speaking.

The man coughed and turned his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t expect to see you down here.”

The woman had set down her basket and had grabbed a towel from one of the conveniently placed racks. “You must be the new guest that I heard had arrived. Are you planning on staying here long?” She asked.

Chapter One — Going Down

The large lift whirred into action the moment he pressed the button. It began to sink and there was a gurgling as water began to rise on the outside of the glass windows. The water swiftly completely covered the lift and the only thing that could still be seen from the surface was the sun sparkling through the water.

A crisp automated voice said, “Thank you for visiting the Poseidon Resort. To help protect the sea life this lift is moving at limited speed. You will arrive at the resort in one hour.”

Epilogue

‘What do you seek?’

Those word were ones I remembered very clearly.

My sister had gone missing six months ago and she had not been found. It was a terrible experience but for me felt worse every day. It was like each day she disappeared from our lives a little more.

Our parents felt like they recovered faster than I had expected, they spoke like she must be fine where ever she was and it was probably better for her anyways. It might have just been their way of coping but it crushed me.

I had to give some credit to Hardul. He basically sacrificed himself for the next attack to succeed. With the noble’s champion defeated it was time for the assassins to act. Maybe the High Nobility felt that if they were already doomed they might as well ruin everything… unless.

As the assassins began to reveal themselves Azar sprang into action. Nikias’ armor was broken so he wasn’t well protected against poisoned arrows. A single swing of her sword knocked the arrows from the air using just the strength of the wind from the swing. She was protecting her father from the assault.

Chapter Break

The morning in the city was quiet. Like it was waiting for something. And the city would not be disappointed.

I walked down the main street with Alice by my side. We were wearing simple clothes which were similar to robes. Mine were strapped with weapons while Alice was unarmed. I’m sure we looked dangerous but our clothing was nothing to the two that came behind us.

It was Nikias and Azar.

“You really are quite mysterious.”

Examining him I said, “You seem to have a question. Ask it.” Then I added, “I won’t punish you.”

He was hesitating but finally said, “What is it that you are after?”

Alice was still hanging out on the bottom floor and she shouted out, “Hamburgers, we still need hamburgers!”

Chapter Break

The novelty of sleeping in a soft bed hasn’t worn off yet. We had the inn to ourselves. I took one of the rooms and and forced Alice to take a different room. The morning was quiet, and the bed felt extremely soft. The morning sun waking me up also continued to be nice. I could get used to this.

The time ticked down slowly in my vision but soon enough it was almost time. During the last minute I had to count the seconds myself because the menu only showed minutes. Five, four, I dodge the last series of attack, three, then booked it through one of the passages, two, I needed to get as far as possible, one. Hopefully I had timed this correctly.

Zero.

I heard the words from the other passage shout, “Great Inferno!”