As I stepped through the door I felt the familiar portal sickness as I was dragged through and transported to The Morningstar Hotel and Spa.

  What the fuck.

  A vibrant blue washed over my vision and then faded as quickly as flicking on a light switch. My stomach churned as I looked around. I was in a room covered from floor to ceiling with bright red fabric. It covered the walls, even the door at the back was covered with the stuff.

  “Well this is rather gaudy,” Panda said as he stepped out behind me along with the others.

  Despite noticing the odd décor, I was more focused on the immediate threat before us. We were surrounded on all sides by armed guards in tuxedos. They looked similar to the kind adorned by the royal guards of Havar. Embroidered swirls running up black satin.

  The slew of guards had a myriad of weapons pointed right at us. Swords, polearms, maces, crossbows, some simply held their hands in our direction as flashes of assorted elemental mana flickered around their fingertips, a deadly fireworks show.

  We were well and truly up shit’s creek.

  One figure stepped forward from the crowd. Shrouded in a hooded cloak which held his face in distorted shadow, the only thing I could see was his bright eyes like deep wells of molten silver, bubbling with the heat. My blood ran hot.

  “You,” I growled. I’d seen this man once before, right after the king of Havar was assassinated. He was the asshole who had kidnapped Bell, he’d probably been her torturer too.

  “Do I know you?” He asked in a pompous, high-minded tone. It made me hate him even more. I moved to step forward, clenching my fists tightly over my daggers. Rex’s furry, strong hand padded firmly on my shoulder, breaking my rage fuelled focus.

  Rex: I don’t know what history you have with this man but don’t do anything irrational. We are completely surrounded and we have no idea of the enemy’s strength. Steel yourself.

  He was right and I was impressed that he’d kept calm enough to engage me in the chat rather than speak aloud. I took a deep breath and loosened my grip slightly.

  The silver eyed man cocked his head to the side like a dog and then shrugged. “Are these the adventurers you spoke of?” He asked a different man who was stood to his left and back a little.

  I recognised him instantly. It was Berthold, the former head recruiter. I’d been privy to his conversation, or the end of it, before he fled from his mistress – of course I’d been invisible at the time. His scarred face looked significantly less frightening next to the shrouded man.

  “Yes,” he replied, then looked me in the eyes. “Did you kill her?”

  I nodded.

  “Good, she deserved it,” he sighed and bowed his head. “However, I cannot allow you to harm the other nobles. Nor can I allow you to leave here alive it seems. Thank you for your service to this city. Regina will be informed of the sacrifice you have made.”

  Regina? Sacrifice? What the hell was this shady prick going on about. Was he involved in Regina’s plan? Had we been set up? I couldn’t tell. I honestly didn’t know what was going on. My head was spinning and all I knew was that I needed to prepare for a fight.

  “Well then,” the silver eyed man said, “It seems our little conversation will have to be cut short, one sided as it was.” He jerked his head and the group of guards surrounding us began to move in, weapons raised.

  Panda: FORMATION 4!

  Without hesitation our team encircled my familiar. Jack wasn’t as quick on the uptake but he quickly joined us. Formation four was an all-round defence in which we all stood back-to-back. It was designed for moments like this. Initially it had been created with Asmodeus in mind. The idea was that as we made a last stand, he would divebomb the weakest link in the creatures surrounding us and then we would all rush through that gap and escape the ensnarement.

  That wasn’t going to work here.

  We were surrounded yes, but we didn’t have Asmodeus with us and there was no room to break through the encirclement. We were in a small, boxy room with nowhere to go. I glanced tentatively back towards the place we’d appeared from but it seemed the portal leading from the theatre was one way. There was no trace of it left. Not even a door stood in the place we had entered from. The only way out of the room was behind the silver eyed miscreant and he looked to be positively overflowing with power.

  My dragon’s eye burned in its socket as he released some of his aura. It glowed a nasty green colour, hugging his skin like a cloak of ethereal mist. He had to be close to silver rank.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Panda: MODIFICATION 2.

  He’d read my mind… sadly.

  Modification two was practically suicide in these tight quarters, but if we were going to be killed we might as well go out using the nuclear option.

  I moved into the middle of the circle, summoning my bow and lifting it above my head. Pulling in all the soul energy I had and praying that this would work, I began channelling acid rain.

  “Focus fire on the emo kid!” One of the guards yelled.

  Were they talking about me? How did they even know that reference? It had to have been the language skill, speak English damn it! At work. Panda had previously realised that the language translation skill also translated things like colloquialisms and political beliefs into the closest interpretation that I would understand. Still, it left me wondering what the Celestian equivalent to an emo was.

  My attack was almost ready.

  A polearm wielding guard stepped forward and Rex swung his axe in a high arc, cleaving fully through the man’s neck and lodging the head of the axe in the shoulder of the guy next to him. He screamed as the head popped off the first guy’s neck and flew high into the air spraying blood down on us all like a horror-themed garden sprinkler.

  Not that you could really see the mess it made in the tacky room which was already red.

  “Burn it down!” I yelled and Bell eagerly complied, firing five small fireballs at the mages on her side. She blasted one into the back wall and the fabric covering it caught alight. Two of the five victims whimpered as their flesh burned and they began patting at themselves. The other three simple doused themselves in water, using their mana, and then focused on doing the same to the wall and the other two who looked pretty dejected, but not out of the fight.

  Thick black smoke began to rise to the top of the room, flames licking the backs of our attackers and forcing them forwards before they were ready. They made easy targets for the furious Rex who took every advantage he could get, swinging wildly and taking multiple opponents down at once. For a moment I regretted now suing for a fighter class back in the beginning.

  “Are we really going for the nuclear option here?” Jack asked, risking a look over his shoulder, eyes widening as he realised what I was going for, the sting of the smoke watering his eyes.

  I met them, blinking smoke-tears away, and nodded.

  “Ok, but if we somehow survive this you’re going to owe me another favour you mad cunt.”

  His words almost broke my concentration. I couldn’t help but let out a little, high-pitched laugh. Pulling back my drawstring, I closed my stinging eyes, scrunching them up as tears squeezed from them, sliding down my red cheeks. It was do or die.

  “STOP.”

  The word hit me like a ton of bricks. A cosmic command of some kind. It completely ruined my attack which fizzled out to nothing. I opened my eyes to see that all the guards were frozen in place, well apart from the silver eyed man. He looked exasperated and sighed loudly. My team were all frozen too. I seemed to be the only one able to move. Though it was a struggle.

  I felt as if I was moving through thick sludge as I angled my neck back down to survey the room. It was slow and painful to move. But I could, and that was weird.

  The silver eyed man raised a single eyebrow at me. He looked bemused, oddly calm for a man who was mid battle mere moments ago. I, on the other hand, had no fucking clue what was happening or where that voice had come from. It sounded disembodied, demonic almost. The word had hit me in the very soul, I could feel it vibrating inside me.

  “How interesting,” he mused, glaring at me from inside his hood.

  “Bring them to me,” the voice called out. “Unharmed.”

  The paralysis faded and I stumbled forward, suddenly able to move without the sludgy pressure making it difficult. The remaining guards in the room all dropped to one knee, placing their fists over their hearts. It was a disturbing similar salute to the one employed by the old guard of Adventure Society.

  My team looked around dazedly, could they hear everything that happened whilst they were frozen?

  “Looks like we’ve been summoned,” Jack said with an exasperated sigh.

  That’s a yes.

  “So you have,” the man with the silver eyes replied with an even bigger sigh, as if he was competing for who was the most perturbed. “Come with me then, I promise that no harm will come to you if you stow your weapons.”

  Bell and Rex looked towards me and I nodded, adding my bow back into my inventory. I had no idea what was going on but it could hardly be worse than the situation we had just been saved from.

  Achievement Unlocked:

  Infidel

  You have resisted a god’s soul command you little rebel, you.

  What’s next, meeting one in person and declaring yourself to be an atheist? Oh wait…

  Reward: x1 platinum coin of the non-believer

  I had no idea what that prize was, but when I attempted to look at its description in my HUD it came back with an error message. I stowed it away for later, knowing the system, it would come back to rail me in the arse later on anyway.

  Keeping a close eye on the silver eyed man, I followed him out of the room. We entered a large hallway adorned with huge pictures in golden frames. They appeared to be the previous rulers of Castalor, dating back centuries. At the end of the hall was a picture of a distinctly feminine lycanid. The caption read Empress Pricilla, The Magnanimous.

  “I was told stories of her when I was a pup,” Rex said under his breath. “Why is her picture hanging in such a despicable place.”

  “How did we even get here,” I wondered aloud. “I thought teleportation into the Morningstar was impossible. Last time we ended up in that reception room and we only got in through an official entry point.”

  “The rules are different for speciality patrons,” Silver Eyes said. “Those with wealth will always garner special treatment here.”

  “Just so you know,” I said as diplomatically as I could. “I am going to kill you.”

  “Sure,” he replied, an air of amusement in his voice. “Just make sure you clear it with the boss first or else you’ll regret taking my head.”

  At the end of the corridor was a large, ornate door. It glimmered in shimmering obsidian. Looking like something out of a dark fantasy novel, the deep black colour almost seemed to fade into the background when placed next to the rich gold and red colours of the rest of the hallways.

  “I’m getting serious boss room vibes,” Bell muttered.

  “Just who exactly is this boss of yours?” I asked Silver Eyes. I knew he was a god due to the achievement I’d received, but which god?

  “He’s the man in charge of this entire organisation,” he replied, opening his covered palms towards me. I could see a glint of silver capped teeth as he smiled underneath his hood. “You’ve probably heard of him. The most recent addition to the pantheon: Nyx.”