Chapter 32

A last missile thudded into Harten’s badly disfigured form, and the keening finally stopped. My eyes never left the final figure. The small, elfin, golden-skinned form of the person who’d – if not instigated this entire mess, then at the very least encouraged it. I almost kept Wheel of Magic active. I had more than enough stamina left, that was for sure, and it didn’t look like it’d take more than four or five missiles to end the scrawny bastard. He absolutely deserved to die. And he was Level 18, too. The experience would be lovely.

I sighed and deactivated the talent. A single magical missile burst from a spoke and travelled a few meters before petering out mid-air.

The short elfin figure blinked, then exhaled in relief. “Appreciations. I did not-“

I interrupted him mid-sentence. I wasn’t going to let him get too much momentum. Besides, even if he still hadn’t thrown a punch and I had no clue what he was capable of, I should still be able to pick him up and drop him over the cliff edge. That wasn’t an attack, per se. Right? “You tried to kill me.”

“Agreement. My companions lost their wager. As such, what was theirs is now yours.” He expanded with his hands toward the dead figures.

I snorted. “That’s an easy concession. Especially since they’re dead and can’t complain. That’s not how I see it, though. Way I see it, you all lost your so-called wager when you tried to jump me, hence all your stuff is mine, no exceptions. Want to test me on that?”

He flinched, but his face remained entirely emotionless. Then he raised a finger. “Confusion. You are Level 18, are you not?”

“What’s your point?” Clearly the bastard had Identify.

“That would mean your Personal Universe does not have enough space for all our goods.” He bowed deeply. “I am, obviously, in agreement that you would be able to pick and choose between our items. Yet, given that you would not be able to carry it all along, would it not be pointless to choose those items useless to you, rather than those belonging to my erstwhile companions who, like you, were of a martial caste?”

I blinked, taking in that wave of words. The fury and adrenaline of the fight was slowly leaving my body, letting me feel the full burden of my wounds and battered body. My grumpy ass needed an argument like it needed another dozen debuffs. I growled at the audacity of the little bastard. “Listen here, you little spitfuck. You tried to kill me. That means I call the shots. I’m not up for any debates. As far as I’m concerned, picking you up and tossing you over that cliff is still on the table. I suggest you start working to ensure that’s not happening.”

He blinked. “Realization. You are not from these lands. Apologies. That was a miscalculation. It shall not happen again.” He bowed deeply. “What would you have of me?”

Whoa. That… was a fast one-eighty. I’d have to keep my eye on this one. Still, at least he seemed extremely clever, and should be able to tell me a lot about my surroundings. The only question was how I should handle him. Obviously, I’d be able to threaten him to begin with. Except, he seemed the type who’d be able to run mental circles around me. “First, I need an answer. A full, detailed answer. Why did you decide to attack me?”

He showed not a hint of remorse, or any emotions at all, really. “Confusion. Why would we not? You are an armed stranger. You looked like somebody who would be easily defeated and still pay off nicely. You have a Personal Universe, something people mostly choose if they have items worth hiding. You show no affiliations to any groupings that should be feared or respected.” He tapped a golden emblem on his left shoulder, a mess of intertwined lines and angles. “This means that you are fair game within the Torn Divide.”

Goddammit. Every single response just revealed more stuff I was ignorant about. “Why didn’t you join the fight?”

He spread his hands. “Self-recrimination. I am a Crafter. As such, I have a few items to aid me in a fight, but no skills or attributes to back me up. At first, I figured using my items would be a waste of resources. Then, I realized it was too late.”

That did make a lot of sense, if you looked at the situation from a cold, uncaring perspective. I knew my strengths. Going through a lot of schools meant that I had the chance to learn a lot about social dynamics, how to fit in and what you could make work. The rapid mental adjustment needed to keep up constant layers of lies and social manoeuvring needed for me to make up some crap and keep this guy in the dark. I’d need at least a modicum of truth here. “All right. Here’s the deal. I am not a local, as you guessed.”

He nodded.

“But I’m not powerless either. And I’ve got a few surprises up my sleeve still, if you try to test me. So, here’s the deal. I’ll let you live, even though you tried to jump me. In return, I will need straight answers about the Torn Divide.”

“Those, I can grant.”

“I will take whatever I want from your items. All of your items. You forfeited the rights to them the moment you thought you’d kill me for your gains. Besides. Why would you start going on about the size of my Personal Universe, when I can see your cart right back there?” I pointed behind him, where their heavily loaded cart lay abandoned.

“Surprise. You do not know about mana carts. That cart will not move, save by the infusement of mana attuned to it. My mana, specifically.” He shrugged. “The right amount of pain might force me to aid you in attunement. Yet, I wager that you are not the type to do that. You are naïve enough to let me live, so torture does not seem to be logical.”

“Dude. Whatever you’re trying, I would stop. You’re about to convince me of the wrong thing.”

“Disagreement. I wager that you would prefer to avoid violence.”

“Don’t be so fucking sure. You almost had me killed.”

“Yet, I did not attack you.” He shot back.

“I don’t fucking care! I’m not the type for torture. But the more you talk, the more likely I am to toss you over the fucking cliff and have done with it.”

He blinked. Then, slowly, he lowered his head. “Ask what you will, then.”

I exhaled loudly and inspected him. Identify still didn’t take, even though I’d leveled. I met his eyes and nodded, once. “First. What’s your name? If we’re going to do this, I want to know who I’m talking to. My name’s Liam, and I’m far from glad to meet you.”

“I am Cuilcis. Meeting you has been a massive net loss.”

The next few hours, Cuilcis talked, answering any question I had. I gave as little information as I could in return, but there was no way for me to avoid giving up something. I had no doubt that the little bastard was taking in a lot more than I’d want him to. He was sharp as hell, and I wasn’t going to turn my back on him. Yet, he was also extremely forthright about everything and a fount of knowledge. He also, apparently, never showed any emotions. His face looked like Steven Seagal in a tender love scene. Not a fucking twinge of expression.

When I asked him to tell me everything he knew about the area we were in, he absolutely delivered. He talked for more than an hour, and I kept my trap shut, trying to hide just how ignorant I was. Dammit, did I learn a lot!

Apparently, the area we were in, the Torn Divide, was large, around the size of Wales, and vaguely square. It was also, apparently, a war zone.

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Okay, maybe war zone was putting a bit too much into it. He called it a ‘contested area.’ The reason? The area had housed a Calamity. Those were, it seemed, creatures or entities that outgrew and out-leveled everything in their surroundings to the point where they were close to unkillable. ‘Close’ being the important part here.

Also, yes, the former Calamity was the goddamn thing inside the canyon, stretching its tendrils out to all corners of the earth, sucking anything dry of sustenance. I knew I was right that the thing was dangerous. It had been called The Eternal Shard, and had required four different species combining their powers to eventually defeat it.

Obviously, mass media had taught me over the years that there was no way the thing was dead. If everybody told you and assumed it was dead, if the damn thing still screamed and gave off weird signs like maybe it wasn’t quite entirely fully dead yet, if the thing had Eternal right there in its fucking name? Yeah. I was calling it. Not dead.

The ‘death’ had been just two years ago. What was left here was, basically, an abandoned battle field. The four species had entered a pact, agreeing in a tentative stalemate that allowed none of them to own the lands. Yet, that didn’t stop other, weaker forces to make a bid for supremacy, roaming the lands in an attempt to steal everything they could before others got to it.