Kaius swirled the half full bottle of alchemical liquor, watching the shimmering vortex go round and round. It was a damn good reflection of how the last few months had felt. Trapped in a prism, caught in the tide of someone else's inexorable momentum, with no way out.

“Are you alright, Kaius?” His old friend Illendra asked, watching him with a soft frown. “We can take a break if you need it — no one doubts you’ve had a rough few months.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine — better to get the story out of the way, and move on to more exciting topics.”

Knowing his audience would need more context, he took a moment to explain how Rieker and Ro had been consumed by his disappearance — and had discovered evidence of the malefic actors behind it, with a little help from Arc. They’d done good work, making their way down the chain of evidence until they’d discovered Old Yon’s warren in the imperial ruins that lurked beneath the city.

While the crimelord had escaped, and he’d only been in the very outskirts of the ruins, it still revealed them to the Guild — a problem that needed solving.

“We got a few weeks to rest when we made it back to Deadacre — during which I met Niles, and inadvertently taught him a blade skill related to my class,” Kaius continued, pausing to nod at the young man slumbering near the fire.

“He’s a sweet boy, isn’t he?” Yanmi said, smiling warmly. “We’ve got plenty of space for him here, don’t you worry about that — but continue, we can figure that out later.”

Kaius nodded — he’d never really worried about that, but he was glad they were accepting Niles on his own merits, rather than taking him in as a favour. The kid was diligent, even already had Honours; he’d be a credit to any team he joined.

“It boiled down to the guild having two problems. A potentially active ruin beneath the city, and a mysterious event that had drained the area of beasts. Us and Bronwyn’s team were the only Silver forces, so they needed our help.”

Jekkar raised a brow, “Bronwyn? Even we’ve heard of him — practically a knight of shining silver, he is.”

The hunter froze a moment later as every member of Kaius’s team winced silently.

“Ah,” he eventually said. “My apologies. Did some good bloody work, even out here every now and again.”

“He was a good delver, and a great man.” Kaius agreed, nodding slowly. “I may as well cover his side of the story first. He and his team tracked the missing beasts down to Strangspine — the old high mana zone out east. The beasts seemed too controlled, so there was a worry that it was some entity or force that was behind their behaviour. They were, unfortunately, right. They found a Tyrant. Only their ranger Dros made it back to the city alive, bringing word of its intent to attack the city.”

Hurrin looked at him wide eyed. “That bloody siege you let slip at the gate…”

“Indeed,” Kaius agreed, before he took a breath and tried to gather his thoughts. “The entire time that happened, we were in the ruins. It was rough. Place was crawling with automata, and one bit of bad luck led to us getting trapped in what amounted to a barracks for a couple of weeks. After we escaped, we pushed straight for the core of the place — hoping to shut it down.”

Yanmi sighed, taking a long sip of her drink. “Let me guess, it all went to shit?”

“When does it not?” Porkchop replied, snorting in amusement alongside the rest of his team.

“Almost never, for most bloody people,” Jekkar muttered into his cup.

Kaius smiled at the jab. “Regardless of our consistently poor luck, things did get a bit messy. We attacked what we thought was the core, only to have a level five-hundred automata teleport directly on top of us.”

“Mythril?” Hurrin yelled, leaning forward. “Fuck off, how did you even survive?!”

“We nearly didn’t,” Ianmus readily admitted. “It turned Porkchop into a barely living meat paste after a single kick, and cut off Kaius’s leg moments later.”

Kaius nodded, and pulled up his trouser leg to reveal the metal bracketing that was pressed close to the skin of his calf and knee — and the prosthetic foot that jutted from the stump of his ankle. Gods, he couldn’t wait to take it off permanently in a few weeks.

“Well, between that being clear imperial work, and the fact you supposedly rode in on some sort of automata spider-boat, I’m guessing that it got stranger from there?” Yanmi guessed, leaning back into her seat after she’d had her fill inspecting his prosthetic.

“Aye, it did indeed,” Kaius agreed with a nod. “The Castellan — the Mythrill — halted as soon as its blade touched my blood. Turns out, some time in the long distant past, my dynasty was a bloody ducal house of the Eternal Empire. As the sole heir, I had a duke's authority over it.”

“Yer fucking with us,” Jekkar said monotonously. When Kaius shook his head, he sighed, downed his drink, and reached into his coinpurse to flick a copper piece towards Hurrin. The innkeep caught it with a grin.

“Ye win on a bullshit stroke of luck, and I won’t hear another word of it!” the hunter hissed.

“Of course, friend,” Hurrin laughed, before he turned to Kaius. “He guessed foreign prince, I guessed an ancient kingdom — though I will admit I didn't expect it to be the Empire. Regardless, sorry for interrupting your story.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Kaius shook his head and laughed. “No problem at all — unlike you lot, it came as a complete surprise to me. Regardless, we learned some old history. My family was involved in some sort of coup that either directly led to, happened because of, or contributed to the Shattering. They were one of many supreme Risen Houses, and one of a few that fled Vaastivar in the wake of their plan. I received a record from an ancestor — a rather obscure set of requirements for me to inherit some sort of fallback plan. Another clue to my heritage, alongside finding out that the tracker who killed Father was named Morton, and in the employ of an Onyx Temple elite named Wilting Rose. We intend to investigate both avenues when we get to Baanswell.”

“So ye have a name,” Holt said gruffly.

“Pulled it right from Old Yon’s mouth before we put him in the ground,” Kenva added, tapping one of the knives on her hip.

“It goes without saying that we need to keep my relation to the Empire hidden — if anyone discovers that there is a way to control active ruins, we’re dead. Most will assume it's some artefact or control mechanism I discovered, rather than believe it's something inherent in my blood. Deadacre would be swarmed.

“Of course, Kaius,” Yanmi readily agreed. “How will you deal with the ruin, though? I doubt you were able to hide that you explored it.”

“The Castallan has that covered. It’s sealed off the lower levels of the compound, and has made it look like we deactivated the upper levels. Unless people take to digging the place up by its damn foundations — something I doubt Governor Hanrick will have a bar of — they’ll be none the wiser.”

He moved on, taking a drink as he readjusted to stare into the flickering flames within the hearth.

Now for the hard part. The siege was so fresh — he could still smell the smoke; hear the screams of dying men and beasts both. The ghost of the Tyrant's passing was with him still — but of any of his tale, it was the most important for Yanmi and the others to know. The ripple effects from the collapse of the Tyrant’s army would be felt even here.

“When we got out, we barely had a week's rest before the Tyrant struck. It was…chaotic. Though it would have been far worse without Dros’s warning. That at least made it possible for Mystral to send a mage cadre, and accept a cohort of refugees.”

His audience was silent, their drinks forgotten as the common room of Hurrin’s tavern grew still.

“It was a week of fire and blood. An army beyond anything I have ever seen — thousands upon thousands of Iron and Steel beasts, with Silver elites supporting them. The birds and other flying creatures were a living cloud that blotted out the sky, and the ground forces hammered the walls incessantly. Every night, without fail, they struck — only to pull back at the last possible moment before our lines utterly collapsed. On the last day… they tunneled under the city — the Tyrant sent a hive queen after the civilians sheltering in the highest reaches of the imperial ruin. We might have won, in the end, but we lost much — in lives, and the damage to the city itself.”

“Thats…” Illendra trailed off, covering her mouth.

“Horrific.” Yanmi finished for her, a deep frown on her face. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

“It was,” Kaius agreed. “We slew the Tyrant in the end. The four of us, Rieker, and Arc — though Rieker’s soul was badly injured. He’ll have to spend the next five years in Mystral recovering with the aid of life mages thanks to the Essence the Tyrant wielded."

Slapping the handrest of his chair, Kaius locked eyes with Yanmi. “There’s more — its army splintered when it died. I wouldn’t be surprised if the effects of that reach as far as here, as territories are displaced and ranges are disrupted. Worse, the Tyrant spawned something. A Droplet of Tyranny. It can be used to force the progression of Refinement before you are ready… or allow those already in the second tier or later to form their Aspects.”

As soon as Kaius explained the effects of the droplet, Holt scowled. “Hells, that’s going to cause some chaos — at least if another appears near here, there’ll be plenty of incentive for powerful folks to handle the problem for us.”

Kaius nodded; it was indeed a positive — as long as you had no intention of acquiring the resource for yourself.

“I hate to say it's true, lad, but this tale was indeed worse than the one you brought with you last time. You’ve had a hell of a time in Deadacre.”

That he had. Still, it wasn’t all bad. He’d grown plenty strong — and had managed to encourage some more positive developments too. Meeting Porkchop’s eyes, he gave his brother a knowing grin.

“There is one more thing.”

“Rotten roots,” Jekkar swore, “What’s next? Plague? The dead rising to walk the land?”

“It’s a boon, this time — I promise.” Kaius laughed. “I was working on something for ages with the guild. We were… open with the existence of Honours, and managed to push for a program to research their requirements and share them broadly. They went above and beyond, surprising me with this when we were alerted to the Tyrant.”

He summoned a book to his hand. It was a large tome, nearly a handspan thick and bound in a rich brown leather. Leaning forwards, he passed it over to Yanmi.

“What’s this?” she asked, frowning curiously as she leafed through its pages.

“A guide to hundreds of General Skills — including roughly two dozen Legacy Skills, all of the publicly known Honours the guild has discovered to date, and what has been discovered about Aspects. The guild simultaneously released it from every guildhall on the continent. The cat is well and truly out of the bag now.”

Once again the room stilled. Yanmi stared at him in naked disbelief.

“This…what? That changes everything! do you understand, Kaius? Not just for Vaastivar — for us! If Skills like this have been released, we won't need to be anywhere near as secretive. It’ll be much easier to hide specific skill training, rather than the fact we’re sharing skills at all!”

“Aye, and it’ll have no doubt sent every damn noble in existence into cataleptic fit.” Holt grumbled. “This will mean trouble, no doubt about it.”

Kaius bared his teeth. On that, they agreed — no longer would nobility be so ironclad in their supremacy.

“I say we toast to the wealth of knowledge we have been gifted once more — and on the morrow, we could show you what we’ve been up to with the brats, eh?” Hurrin suggested, raising his brow.

Kaius raised his drink, toasting readily. He’d like that. With his story done, it was time to simply relax and enjoy the company of old friends. Though, he did admit that he was looking forward to seeing the result of Dawntown spreading skills. Perhaps it would be a peek into the future of elsewhere on the continent?