Archivauld awoke with a start, feeling something hot and wet on his face. He blinked rapidly as he wiped at his face, his vision blurry from sleep. With a groan Archivauld looked up, the slowly brightening sky outlining Foxy, who was leaning over him..
"What is it?" Archivauld asked with a yawn, his nose scrunching up at the pungent smell of her breath. Foxy bared her teeth, letting out a soft growl. It was not a growl of alarm, though it was still quite menacing. It was at times like this that Archivauld was reminded just how intimidating Foxy really was. She loomed above him, her thick grey and black fur covering sleek corded muscle.
To be honest, she looked more like a wolf than a fox, though her long sleek mussel and tall wide ears did give her a fox-like appearance.
Despite the name he used, she was neither a wolf, nor a fox. She was a species of incredibly reclusive and dangerous monster called a Nightingale usually only found in the depths of the inner expanse. He had no idea why there had been a juvenile Nightingale inside the Draukfeer mountains, nor why she started following him, but it had turned out for the best.
Her bared teeth were absolutely massive, with her canines each the length of his pointer finger and razor sharp. From where she stood, Archivauld had no doubt that if she wanted, she could rip his throat out in a heartbeat.
And yet, Foxy just stood there, looking down at him expectantly. Archivauld still wasn't sure why Foxy kept following him, but found he rather enjoyed the glutton's company. Foxy was not exactly a person, but he could swear she was as smart as people sometimes.
"Five more minutes," Archivauld yawned, closing his eyes, and snuggling back into his bed roll.
Her sandpaper-like tongue licked across his face again, the smell of her breath overpowering to his human nose.
"Yuck, stop that, your break reeks,"
With an annoyed bark, she licked his face again, slobbering all over his cheek.
"All, right! All right, I'm awake," Archivauld grumbled..
He waved away the pest. With a jaw stretching yawn, he sat up, pushing aside his bedroll. Foxy took a step back, giving him space to stand. Archivauld took a deep breath, stretching, his back cracking as he rolled his shoulders.
Sleeping on the ground never got more comfortable.
Still drowsy from sleep, he rolled up his sleeping bag, strapped it to his pack. Slinging his chipped and blood stained ax into its loop on his belt, he picked up the foul smelling pouch nearby.
He grimaced as he caught a whiff of the contents inside. Turning the head to ice had kept the smell at bay for a while, but it was midsummer and the days were sweltering.
He could of course, stay in his monster form full time, but had decided to change back to human a full day before he would reach the city. After his last encounter with Parcival, and his unknown backer Archivauld couldn't risk his two forms being associated. Plus, he didn't want to risk one of the patrols that kept the surrounding forest around the city spotting him.
No telling what they would do, they would probably get trigger-happy after spotting him and attack. That sounded like something he had no desire to deal with.
Speaking of which, he glanced at Foxy. She posed just as large of a problem though in a different way.
He frowned. "Not sure how long I'll be this time, but please don't try to come find me. The city has extensive protections from monsters sneaking inside," Archivauld warned.
Foxy was unlikely to have forgotten, but a reminder couldn't hurt. Foxy huffed, as if saying those piddly protections were nothing to her.
He smiled at her reaction. She really was like a mischievous teenager. Archivauld had the strong desire to reach out and scratch behind her ears, but held his hand back.
Despite her friendliness, he couldn't forget that she was a wild monster. Not to mention she was still a mischievous juvenile who liked to cause trouble for the fun of it. Come to think of it, hadn't she grown since they met?
Considering how much this glutton ate on a regular basis, it wouldn't surprise him. Adult Nightingales were a terror of the inner expanse after all. Giving Foxy one final glance, he disappeared into the forest.
He worried for her, though not for her safety. He was more concerned that the troublemaker would cause mischief while he was inside the city.
Archivuald shook aside the distracting thoughts as the gates to Stronghold came into view.
The walls towered large, at least eighty meters high, forming a crescent that connected to the sheer cliffs of the Draukfeer mountains on either side. The wall was imposing, though it wasn't just stone and mortar. Embedded into each and every stone were Fractal's, an incredibly vast network, all woven together to form a barrier that could protect the entire city. Archivuald had never seen the barrier in active use, but it was rumoured to be impressive.
Not to mention expensive. Supposedly, one week of being active consumed an entire Cardinal tier Nexus heart. That was an absolutely absurd cost.
Standard Knight tier nexus hearts were already incredibly valuable, selling between twenty and fifty silver each, depending on quality.
The cardinal tier was three full tiers higher than his own, with each tier taking a hundred times the essence to reach. Copper, and then Knight tier had only taken him roughly four months. Even at his rapid pace, reaching the Lord tier could take months of dedicated rift diving and that was just for his common emblems. For his divine curses, reaching the next tier might take years.
That didn't even consider the tiers above Lord.
The prospect was daunting, but he relished the challenge. Archivuald was near the bottom of the pecking order now, but not forever.
He patted the pocket of his backpack, confirming the Nexus from his latest rift was still there. It was tempting to sell it on his own, but he had a deal.
His agreement with the Black Heart guild didn't give him ownership, so it was best not to think about it. Not that he was complaining about his deal with Pelas.
His gains over the past month were more than worth losing a few dozen silvers. Not only had he acquired multiple new emblems, but he had also harvested enough essence to push almost all of them to the Knight tier.
His progress was incredibly rapid, though hopefully it wasn't enough to draw the attention of the big shots. Archivuald didn't need that kind of attention. After all, the nail that stands up is the one who gets hammered down.
He shook off the troubling thoughts. It was his turn in line, and he needed to provide his papers. Several of the people in line plugged their noses, glaring at the pungent smelling sac he carried over one shoulder.
The member of the red hand society took his proffered papers with a smile, giving the symbol pinned to Archivuald's chest a once over.
"Ahh, you are a member of that new guild, right? The black,, uhhhh something or other?" the man asked cordially.
"Yes, and it's the Black Heart guild," Archivuald replied calmly.
The man nodded. "I have been seeing your members a lot lately. Your guild seems to be growing quickly," the man replied.
Archviuald nodded. "Sounds about right. Our guild master has been recruiting heavily. She is determined to grow the guild and make a name for us in the inner expanse," Archivuald replied.
The man chuckled, handing back his neatly folded papers.
"That's far more ambitious than I care to be. I don't envy you. Joining a new guild can be rough," the man replied.
"That it can.. How do you like the red hand society?" Archivuald asked, curious more than anything.
The man shrugged. "It's not a bad gig. For those like myself who don't wish to delve into rifts, we are given yearly bonuses of essence stones on top of our regular pay. It's not a lot, but it's still enough for at least one emblem to reach lord tier within a decade," the man replied proudly.
Archivuald whistled softly.
"That's pretty damn good, much better than our contract. We don't receive any long term benefits at all," Archivuald replied.
"I figured as much that's the downsides of joining a new guild. Anyways, on with you, you are holding up the line," the man said.
Archivuald tucked his papers under his shirt, nodding to the man as he strode inside the gates.
He had to admit, it was much more pleasant to enter when the Red Hand society was in charge of the gates.
The man hadn't even questioned him about the smelly sac he was carrying. Quite convenient. Archivuald might have been put in a tough spot if they searched it and found the head of an abyssal fiend.
He wouldn't have been in trouble, but he preferred to be anonymous. This head was going to cause a lot of waves, and he really didn't want to be at the center of it. Speaking of which, he made his way back to their guild, waving off Tanner's greeting as he strode right in.
"I need to talk to Pelas, it's important," Archviuald said, without preamble.
Tanner threw a glance at the pungent smelling sac, "Just how important? Pelas said to not disturb her unless it is life or death," Tanner replied.
Archivuald glanced around the empty hall. "I have found evidence on who has been killing entire towns," Archivuald replied.
Tanner's brows scrunched up at his words, clearly understanding the seriousness of Archviuald's words..
"I see... Come with me,"
Instead of going to Pelase's office, they went to her private chambers, a fancy suite on the second floor. Tanner knocked on the door insistently. It only took a few seconds before a disheveled Pelas came to open it. She was in her nightgown, her hair a mess.
"You better have a good reason for disturbing me?" Pelas asked, clearly not in a good mood..
Tanner gestured to Archivuald. "He's got something important to tell you," Tanner said simply.
Pelas gave Archivuald a look that could kill. "Well…"
Archivuald grasped the pouch slung over his shoulder, and opened it.
The pungent smell of death filled the air, as the face of Felcia, an abyssal fiend was revealed. Pelas's expression turned from annoyed to alarmed, as recognition crossed her face.
"Come inside and shut the door," Pelas ordered, her expression turning deadly serious.
They walked in, with Tanner closing the door behind them.
Frantically looking around the room, Pelas snapped her fingers, and an invisible pulse of essence spread out. The muffled sounds from the street outside were immediately cut off. Archivuald gave the woman a curious look uncertain what to think of her reaction. Pelas let out a long-suffering sigh, grabbing a mostly empty bottle of whisky on the table. She downed the remainder of the bottle in one go, grimacing as she slammed the bottle back on the table.
"Alright, start talking?" Pelas asked with a shaky voice.
Archivauld let out a long breath. Right to business as always, he liked that about Pelas.
"I guess i'll start from the beginning. When I arrived in the town of Yurth, it was destroyed. The town was deserted, I'm assuming they were slaughtered down to the last," he reached for his belt, and pulled one of the long curved daggers showing its odd make and the strange metal it was made from to her.
"I found this dagger, covered in ichor hidden in the grass. Suffice it to say, I followed the blood trail, and ran into this ray of sunshine. I captured her, questioned her, and when she tried to kill me, I cut her head off," Archivuald replied.
It wasn't the full truth, but not a lie either.
Pelas massaged her temples. "Well, that's just perfect. What a pain in the ass. This is quite poor timing. First the Order running into an Abyssal lord and Abyssal fiends," Pelas swore.
"The Order did what?" Archivuald asked his heart skipping a beat at her words..
Pelas scowled, and walked over and opened the nearby liquor cabinet clearly in need of another drink.
"The Order, or more specifically, one of its high ranking Templars recently did battle with an Abyssal lord. Suffice to say, they nearly died from the encounter, forced to flee to survive," Pelas said.
"That sounds like an Order problem, why does it have you so worked up?" Archivuald asked curiously.
Pelas downed a fistful of hard liquor blanching.
"That's because this a fear monger and i'm a big enough idiot to believe to incessant ramblings," Pelas replied.
"What does your father have to do with this?" Archivuald asked.
Pelas sighed.
"My father, despite his many faults is a renowned historian. He has been rambling about the final cataclysm for decades now, the end of the world. Most think he has gone senile, but after what's been happening recently, i'm starting to believe him," Pelas replied..
"Cataclysm? What are you on about? That's just fairy tales of something that happened over a thousand years ago?" Archivauld scoffed.
Pelas poured herself another drink downing it in one go. Clearly this was a topic that made morning drinking come back in style.
"It's not just a fairy tale, told by the bards. The cataclysm was real," Pelas replied.
"Next you going to say that Arcadia was really the birthplace of the holy mother before it vanished," Archivuald joked.
Pelas gave him a sharp glance.
"Joke all you want, but i'm dead serious. When the abyssal lord's return to the mortal world, it is the catalyst, the herald of Armageddon, a second calamity, the end of the world as we know it," Pelas said.
"Now you are just being dramatic. It's only an abyssal fiend. They are tough, but humanity is quite resilient. The first calamity didn't kill us, we'll survive this one too," Archivuald replied.
Pelas let out a long drawn out sigh, giving the head of Felcia a forlorn stare.
"Tanner, how many towns have gone missing over the last year?" Pelas asked, he voice surprisingly calm.
Tanner didn't hesitate. "Ten. With an estimated fifteen thousand people going missing across the expanse. I guess you could make that eleven now, since Yurth has been taken," Tanner replied.
Archivuald knew there were disappearances, but he hadn't known it had become this extensive.
"From what the Order has been posting in the papers, it's not near that bad," Archivuald replied.
Pelas scoffed. "That's because the Order is trying to hide their negligence. They are fooling the public, but the guilds and the Cult are not so easily deceived. Those pampas holier than though assholes have been keeping everyone in the dark for to long. It's time they admit their negligence and get the Cult, and the guilds involved. I will take this head to my father. With it, he will be able to put more pressure on the Order," Pelas replied.
"About that… Can we perhaps keep my name out of it. It sounds like the Order is going to be pissed, and I would prefer they didn't know who gave the Cult this head," Archivuald replied.
Pelas slowly nodded in agreement, flicking a hand at the daggers he had taken from Felcia.
"I'll need one of those daggers to go with the head. Those weapons are clearly not of the mortal realm, so the Order won't be able to deny their origin," Pelas said.
Archivuald slowly nodded.
"Fine, you can have them. Take their worth off my debt to the guild," Archivuald replied.
"That seems fair. So, how did your first knight tier rift go?" Pelas asked thankfully changing the subject.
Archviuald dug inside his pack and tossed a heavy pouch containing the Nexus heart onto her couch. The pouch clinked as the contents inside clicked together.
"One knight tier Nexus heart, and an emblem," Archivuald said succinctly.
Pelas's dower mood quickly brightened as she walked over, and tugged open the pouch. She pulled out the contents, smiling as she held up the emblem, a thumb sized crystal covered in archaic fractals.
"Doomsday theories aside, that's good work. Would you like some time off, or are you looking to go back out again soon?" Pelas probed.
"You sound like you already have something lined up?" Archivuald asked, curiously.
"Well….. I dooo. But, this one is complicated," Pelas admitted hesitantly.
"More complicated than missing towns, abyssal fiends, and the potential of another Cataclysm?" Archivual asked jokingly.
She snorted in derision.
"No… Nothing so grand… I'm honestly not sure why the client even came to us with this request. With the kind of money on offer, they could have easily paid for a full escort from one of the major guilds," Pelas replied.
Archivuald raised an eyebrow, quite intrigued.
"And yet they chose us, a new guild with little connections or influence. What exactly does this client's request entail?" Archivauld asked.
"That's the troubling part. Our new client is quite secretive. All I know is that it's an escort mission into a knight tier rift and that they require complete discretion. I don't even know who the client is. What I do know is that the ten gold fee has already been paid upfront with the other five to be paid on completion," Pelas replied.
Archivauld raised both eyebrows.
"That's a lot more than one knight tier rift is worth. Just who exactly will I be escorting through a knight tier rift?" Archviuald asked.
"As i said, i don't know. Will you take it? Can you handle something like this?" Pelas asked.
He nodded slowly. "It shouldn't be too difficult. I can handle the rift alone if necessary. Will he fight as well?" Archviuald asked.
"As far as I'm aware, you will do all the fighting. You will need to be careful. If things get too dangerous, call off the delve. Whether you succeed or fail, we have already gotten paid. No point in getting yourself or the client killed. We don't need that kind of headache on our hands," Pelas replied.