B3 C56: The Fourth Crack

If skills could have been granted to individual body parts, then Emin would have been a Grandmaster swimmer from the neck up by now. Ever since his last meeting with Warram, his head had started swimming and never stopped.

It was a simple plan, really. Warram would wait by the dungeon entrance claiming he’d received a tip-off that Tess was planning on killing a party member. Provided someone actually did die on their dungeon run, he’d have a solid cover to take her in for questioning.

More than that, Tess would get out of the dungeon exhausted, demoralized, low on mana, and unprepared to put up a fight. Considering how hard it was to predict exactly how long a dungeon run would take, no one would think it odd if she couldn’t be found or reached for a few extra hours.

Doubly true for our first real run, as we’ll likely be slowing down to look for secrets. It can only be expected that it would take longer than usual.

The only trickier puzzle piece was a high-level tracking blocker which Warram would be acquiring courtesy of his house. Tess would already appear to be untrackable to any observers while she was in the dungeon -- if Warram blocked tracking spells on her the very moment she got out, it would just look like she was still inside to anyone trying to find her. Even the archmage likely wouldn’t notice the ruse unless he was playing very close, direct attention to his pupil.

And that was it. Tess would be captured. Warram would help to transfer her mark to Emin, which he’d assured that he had a surefire way to do if need be. The guardsman would reveal that Tess wasn’t truly Suds’ granddaughter. From there, she’d likely be banished from Sylum.

Emin would get a godly boon. Funding. Maybe even a personal home in Emer’Thalis if it was seized as a vassal settlement. And if that weren’t enough, he’d surely level countless times with all those resources too -- his very lifespan would likely shoot up by decades, if not more!

And all it would take was a single death.

It was the smart thing to do, he knew. When would he ever get another opportunity like this? Even from a moral standpoint, he’d save far more than a single life with all the good he could do afterwards. And while neither Nella nor Oachin were truly awful, Emin didn’t have all that much love for nobles to begin with.

There was, of course, the matter of betraying Tess, but why would he care? She wasn’t actually a friend. She was someone he’d been hired to spy on. Someone who’d been lying to him all this time. A criminal, infiltrating the influential spheres of the government to sow chaos under false pretenses.

It was cut and dry. Logical. He’d been asked to do it by a guard, for gods’ sake! Any way he looked at it, there was one clear choice.

But even with all of that, he thought to himself, why does it feel so wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

The days rolled by, each one passing bringing Emin one day closer to fulfilling Warram’s task. When finally they cleared the dungeon for the fifth time and unlocked its full features, Emin had largely resolved himself to what he had to do.

He’d already planned it out. A few quick buffs placed on the final boss at inopportune times would do it. His skills didn’t usually come with any visual components. No one would be the wiser.

It was with some degree of unease, then, that he listened to Alara tell them about her birthday party. Lately, he’d been trying to pull away from the others as much as he could without seeming suspicious, but he couldn’t well refuse a direct invite like this.

So he went, fully expecting the party to feel uncomfortable for him. Unpleasant.

How wrong he’d been.

The food, the drink, the company. Before he knew it, he’d forgotten all about criminals and conspiracies and dungeons. He was having fun! So much fun! Hells, he never used to do things like that. Why not? Why had he spent all his time cooped up in the lab up until now?

And then it hit him.

I never had the friends to drag me along.

He looked around at the strange assortment of party attendees. Right. They are that, aren’t they? Friends.

He tried to think of what his life would be like without them. No more of Alara’s antics. No comparing potion recipes with Oachin. No Nella to continuously pester him. Even Verin’s cold calmness was growing on him.

And Tess.

Oh, how badly he’d wanted to find nothing to fault her with. That night she’d taken him dancing was probably one of the best in his life. He wanted to deny it, but she had that effect on him. He was dazzled.

Ah. Smitten with a criminal. Pitiful, aren’t I?

He tried to picture her on the floor of some cell, waiting to be banished as her mark was stripped away from her, and he grew queasy. Burying the sensation in another drink helped for a while, but then Nella just had to go and talk about her bright future and all of her plans, and at last, he broke down. Tears fell freely from his face as his friends comforted him, not at all knowing the true reason he was crying.

What in the hells was I even thinking? What’s the point of it all if I lose all of this? I’d really sell all of it for a boon and to go back to spending all day in the lab? And what sort of friend even considers doing something so horrible?

There was still a bitterness. A low-burning resentment that Tess had been lying to him for so long. A strong disapproval of what she was doing. But he’d figure out how to deal with that later and hopefully in a far less extreme way. And in any case, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been lying to her as well.

And so, Emin ended the night of Alara’s party with a weight lifted from his shoulders, feeling far better than he had in ages. He would refuse Warram’s plan and forge a new way.

Two days later, their party entered the dungeon. With any luck, it would be their best run yet.

~~~~~~~

Gods! What was happening? What was happening!

Magma splashed around the room as a molten titan rose from the ground, quickly towering over them like some nightmarish legend from a scary children’s story.

This was supposed to be easy! Just like all the other times! How had things gone so wrong?

With a level of speed he hadn’t known he possessed, Emin threw his skills into getting some kind of defenses up. Oachin’s usual potion spread seeds into the foamy ground, but with the heat and the unideal soil, Emin had to modify them in over a dozen ways just to get them to sprout. The very moment he built up something resembling a wall, though, he ducked behind it, openly cowering.

Which was fine, because his part of things was largely done. Now he just had to sit back and buff Tess until she killed the thing.

It was thus with no small amount of horror that he saw her first arrow bounce off the titan. As if to punish them all for their insolence, the monstrous boss created four blades from the metal of its skin, all of which shot out towards them.

And it was right then that Emin realized something.

Those blades were larger than usual. If that wasn’t enough, they were made from higher grade metals, too.

I need to reinforce the barrier wall, don’t I?

He fished out a piece of hide from a mithril boar -- one of his newer additions, courtesy of his troublesome benefactor -- and transferred its strength to the iron brambles. The act of working with such a high-grade material drained his mana like mad, but the metal would certainly hold now.

Say what you will about Warram, but the man knows how to give good gifts.

First he reinforced the section directly in front of him. Then in front of Nella. And lastly-

Having thought of the man who’d given it to him, Emin glanced down at the piece of hide in his hands.

You know… you wouldn’t even need to do anything. No buffing the boss. No debuffing your friends. You could just… wait another second. That’s all. That’s all it would take to complete Warram’s task.

So easy! Just a bit of inaction.

As fast as the thought came, though, it left him.

What in damnation am I thinking?

He’d already made his choice. And besides, was he daft? This wasn’t the normal boss -- without Oachin, they could very well all die here! And Emin liked being alive!

Truly, you need to get your head checked after a thought like that. Here, I’ll just-

Far faster than he’d come to expect, the swords shot off.

Two of them, meeting the reinforced mithril brambles, stopped short.

As for the other.

The room filled with the discordant shriek of metal on metal, and Emin watched as the sword slid straight through. Straight through the barrier. Straight through the flesh behind it.

And immediately, he understood.

I did that. It’s my fault.

His mind went blank as Oachin bled out and then went even blanker as the alchemist he’d started to consider a friend died right before him.

He didn’t even notice the new blade coming for him until he was saved. Saved by someone he’d been thinking of killing only days before. Each word she spoke to him was a knife to the chest, and when she at last died too, he felt more hollow than he’d known was possible.

My fault. We could have won this. No casualties.

And it’s all my fault.

If there’d been another blade coming for him, he would have gladly taken it at that moment. He barely even registered Tess and Alara’s heroics, save for some small part of him that was still helping with his class skills.

So when the boss finally toppled and Tess scooped him up, his brain was too slow to connect the dots. He didn’t even have time to shout out a warning. For though Emin certainly hadn’t known what was waiting for them in the secret room, he did know what awaited them on the other side of that portal.

Warram. And everything went just the way he wanted.

Because of me.

~~~~~~~~

“I’m sorry, Tess. I’m just… I’m sorry.” Emin sat there on his knees, his silent tears having finally stopped, but his internal emptiness more present than ever. He’d thought confessing would make him feel lighter at the end of it, but everything just felt so painfully heavy.

Belatedly remembering the cup of water he was clenching with a death grip, Emin downed it all in one go. Throat dry from talking after inhaling so much burning hot air, each gulp was a welcome and soothing distraction from how awful everything else felt right now.

She hates me now, doesn’t she? Of course she does. I do too, Tess. Some tiny part of himself urged him to look at her, to see for himself what lay in her eyes. He ignored it. He wanted to entertain the fantasy that she forgave him for a bit longer. Instead, he stared down into his empty cup.

“Interesting,” Warram interjected. “Who knew you’d have a change of heart right at the end? In a way, I should thank you for that. It makes this next part slightly easier for me.”

Emin jerked upwards, almost having forgotten that Warram was there. How had he forgotten? And more importantly, why had he said all of that? He did want Tess to understand, but he hadn’t planned on telling Warram about his planned defiance.

Who cares? He was at his lowest. The truth wasn’t going to change that. If he could have helped Tess right then, he would have, but it was far too late for that. Even if Warram hadn’t been able to freeze them both with a glance, Emin didn’t even know where the door out was.

Whatever it is he’s going to do, I just want it all over with. He wanted to go home. And sleep. Possibly for a month or two.

“I suppose it’s not quite as much as I’d wanted, but I believe it will still suffice. Thank you for confessing, Emin. It has been some time since I’ve been able to properly use these skills. Now, for your crimes, I Charge you.”

What? My cri-

You have confessed your crimes! The arm of the law weighs heavily upon you.

You have confessed to breaking into a place of bathing.

-5% to all stats

Stamina and mana regeneration reduced.

You have confessed to participating in a conspiracy to accuse a citizen of a crime they did not commit!

-10% to all stats

Stamina and mana regeneration reduced

Movement speed greatly reduced

You have confessed to participating in a conspiracy to kill a noble!

-50% to all stats

Stamina and mana regeneration halted

Your mana has been locked.

You have been frozen in place.

Emin’s entire body locked up, leaving him rigidly kneeling there on the floor. Nothing made sense anymore.

Is he arresting me? Soul oath or not, he has to know that wouldn’t go well for him. Is it to keep me from interfering?

And then, at last, the other notification arrived.

You have imbibed poison!

-3hp per second for 60 seconds

If he could have, Emin would have remained oblivious for another minute. Unfortunately, on seeing his poisoned status, it all clicked.

I was never going to get the funding.

Or the godly boon.

Or a home in Emer’Thalis.

Of course he wasn’t. What a fool he’d been. A complete fool from the very start.

He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. To have done all that stressful spying, the moralizing, the inadvertent betrayal of his friends, all just to land up here.

And so he did just that. He laughed, each peal mixed with a wailing sob that shook his body.

Bit by bit, the poison did its work, shaving off his health as it wracked him with pain. Unable to use his skills or even move from his spot, all Emin could do was watch and laugh and cry.

When he hit the ten second mark, Emin tried his best to collect himself. He failed, but he really did try.

Lacking anything heroic to say, he simply said what was on his mind.

“I hate to say it, Tess, but I think I may have, uh, messed up a little, you know?” He let out a weak and phlegmy chuckle. “Sorry about that… And all of it.”

With a sigh, he whispered out his final words more to himself than anyone else.

“damnation... never got to go dancing again, did I… what a shame…”

And with that, his body unfroze and slumped to the ground.

~~~~~~~~

NO! I tried to flood life mana into and out of my body, to activate anything. A cantrip, a life arrow, I’d take even just a few points of healing if I could get it. Instead, my mana lay inert, forced into stillness just like the rest of my body.

Physically unable to turn away and unwilling to close my eyes, I was forced to watch as the poison ate away at his health. I wanted to scream. To shout. To leap to my feet, to claw Warram’s eyes out, to do anything but sit there uselessly, crying.

As I sobbed on the floor, over and over again my mind kept circling back to the same question: Why?

Why did Warram do it? He knew he wouldn’t get away with it. He knew if he left me alive, I’d make sure he paid, and if he killed me, he’d be hunted down. It made no sense, cruelty for cruelty’s sake, and somehow that made the pain all the worse.

Mixed in with the pain, the trauma, the grief, was a well of rage. At myself. At Warram. And yes, at Emin too. Even with his death, I was furious with him, and in different circumstances, I would have loved to punch him myself. All that time, spying, helping out Warram.

It would have been easier if that made me fully hate him -- if I could just say “good riddance” and not feel a thing. But of course that wasn’t how it worked. The sting of the betrayal didn’t cancel out the grief. Instead, they melded together, making something even larger, worse than the sum of their parts.

The entire while, his body just lay there, irreverently. It felt like the world was supposed to pause. Like there should have been a moment of silence, of peace for him, or failing that, at least his body could have been shown some respect.

In death, however, neither was in store for him.

With a dispassionate, emotionless face, Warram nudged Emin’s body with his boot.

“Always a pain having to do that with all my class penalties. Glad poison still works, at least. Poor guy. This wasn’t the original plan, you know, but then he just had to tell me about your mark.” He crouched down until he was sitting on his shins, paying the body no mind as he stared at me through the bars.

“You’re confused. I can tell. That’s okay. There’s quite a lot that I still need you to answer for me before you join your friend, so I don’t mind offering up something too. Think of it as a show of good will.” He chuckled at his own joke even as I tried my hardest to break free and brain him.

“The thing is, I can always leave this city. There are places to lie low, even from someone like that archmage of yours. It would be a pain, so normally I’d never consider it, but there is one thing that would make it worth it.” He extended a single arm through the bars, his wrist facing upwards. “You see, when I was very young, mother arranged to give me a gift. You understand, don’t you?”

The skin on his wrist started to bubble as crimson ink pulled itself upwards.

Already, I’d cried my eyes dry, but at the sight of that revulsive, oily blood-red mark, the waterworks started again. Not for Emin or Alara or Nella or Oachin. No, this time they were for me.

My labored breaths grew faster and faster as I began to hyperventilate, my body involuntarily trembling even through Warram’s skill.

Because I did understand. Far too late, but now I did.

His mark fully materialized into one that I knew well. Of course I did considering I had one too.

An Antagonist’s mark.

With an utter certainty, I realized Warram had no plans to ever let me go. This time I could feel it as the pressure in my mind built up, higher, higher, higher, until once more-

CRACK.