The next day, Lucius summons the party to report to the Eastern Gate of the city.

  “Why are we here?”

  Upon hearing Cenvin’s grumbling Lucius adjusts the edges of his suit formally.

  “My friends, it’s time to meet your escorts for your mission. I have commissioned a trade caravan that you will be a part of, disguised as merchants, to enter Starmetal Valley with. Your route can be organized in two phases,” He points to a map strung to a nearby notice board. “First, the journey to reach Seashine City. It is located on the Western coast, and you will travel north to reach it. It’s a prosperous trading city, one of the largest in Italica, and it’s a natural destination for all caravans. To reach there, you will cross a well-trodden swamp. The Royalty had not yet shifted her focus towards maintaining the security of the roads, so you must be aware of the possible perils. Then, you will go through the southernmost tip of the Seashine Mountains. A desolate, rocky place that serves as a natural barrier.”

  “Sounds dangerous, do you expect us to protect the caravan? Because no way will we ever,” Cenvin rebukes.

  “I will get to that part, my friend. After restocking at Seashine City, the journey to Starmetal Valley, situated at the center of Italica, will be easy. Your goal is to assassinate the Star, and if you cannot accomplish that, create chaos and disorder amongst them. I’m confident that you will gladly hear that Kores-”

  “What I want to hear now are details of the caravan’s protection,” Cenvin insists, “because you know damn well we are going to ditch these merchants at first signs of danger.”

  “Very well, I will skip over some major information you desperately need to know then.”

  He calmly replies, but a tinge of hurt is present.

  “Joining you on the trip will be one of my most experienced veterans, Assert. There she is! She’s the one conversing with the leader of the caravan, the caravaneer Cedric. Both are reliable talents, but I must warn you not to provoke her too much. She… does not work well with comaheads.”

  Upon noticing Lucius waving at her, Assert walks over to the party. She is fully covered head-to-toe in chain armor, similar to how an Orion would be like, her face covered by a painted clay mask. Two sullen eyes glare towards the party, studying them, from under the mask. She is tall and thinly built, but the atmosphere around her feels almost radioactive. Every sign is pointing towards that she is not a sociable person, and her voice cements that conclusion. It is harsh and apathetic.

  “The famed team that caused a whole lot of ruckus, I see. Cenvin the Dishonest, one of the most wanted criminals in Italica, Durand the Ranger, the person who mysteriously disappeared one day, and… ah, Lenny. But your name before is Stoffel, is it not?”

  Seeing that none of his fellow adventurers are responding, Lenny steps up to stare Assert in the eyes.

  “You got that correct, o’ Merc, and I advise you to keep your very nice mouth shut because my friends here are not jokers. Pray, if you will, please give us our due respect.”

  She freezes for a moment, seemingly appalled, but then her eyes burst into tiny suns of chilling flames. Lenny feels a bitter shiver crawl down his spine as the flames in her eyes slowly freeze into ice. An ice spike bursts from the ground, followed by twenty more, surrounding Lenny in a jail cell. The spikes spontaneously combust, burning but still so cold that a small touch can cause severe damage. The honey badger shrieks in pain as he experiences the burning and frozen sensations simultaneously.

  “Do not talk back to me, you furry half-dwarf bastard,” Assert whispers.

  “How dare you! No one insults a pal like that! What a b****!”

  Cenvin shouts as he draws his Rapier of Dimensions and jabs at Assert from fifteen feet away. She smirks.

  “Get into melee range if you wish to make battle-”

  She is cut off when the rapier pierces through the air, seemingly to stretch itself to stab Assert’s heart magically. She quickly sidesteps the attack, then retaliates by pulling an ice javelin out of the ground and throwing it towards Cenvin, the tip bursting into blue flames as it soars.

  “That will be enough!”

  The javelin strikes an invisible wall and dissolves. Everyone turns towards Lucius, who’s rubbing his temples in exasperation.

  “You will all be traveling together for the next few months. Please control yourselves.”

  The man who Assert was speaking with previously now joins the conversation. He had watched the quarrel from a safe distance, and given that he’s not Gifted he spectated with great awe. Seeing that the tension is now controlled, he quickly steps between Assert and Cenvin, holding his hands out in peace.

  “Magister Lucius! Marshal Flofel, the caravan will be ready in a few hours,” he looks for the party’s belongings to no avail, “I advise packing your necessities, sirs, and ma’am,” he quickly adds.

  Assert nods and walks towards the bustling caravan. Turning back, she addresses the party(and even Cenvin, albeit briefly).

  “I will be waiting. Say your goodbyes to Italica City.”

  Leaving Cenvin’s frustrated shouts behind, she walks away with no more words.

  Salutations, Lenny.

  Sinner transmits to Lenny, who is standing in front of him. Nyri purrs on the Wandering’s shoulder. They are alone in the penthouse, Cenvin, and Durand nowhere to be seen.

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  “I have many questions to ask, so I thank you for agreeing to meet me at the place where you are likely least wanted.”

  Sinner’s face deforms into a hideous, inhuman expression that seems to be a smile. He flips through the pages in Lenny’s mind, reading the questions and answering them.

  What a silly little druid you are. I created Nyri to look after you all. He draws a scroll of parchment out of nowhere, On Diem’s instructions, I am here to record your story. Nyri will remain distant but ever-vigilant. Think of her as your guardian angel. Unlike your other party member, you have no problems with being spied on, because you know it’s for your good. The multiverse?

  The thought of that very concept makes Sinner chuckle audibly.

  Lenny, there is no multiverse, unlike the stereotypes I assume you’ve been led to believe in the real world. Here, the universe is infinite, allowing for infinite possibilities, thus allowing for infinite scenarios just like this one…

  Yeah, do you know how many planets I’ve searched? Remember that life is only, like, present in 0.1% of them! And to find suitable Contestants- oh flip, not supposed to reveal that.

  “Contestants?”

  Youheardnothing.

  “Whatever. Thank you, Sinner, I believe my questions have been answered. Will our paths cross again in the future?”

  As Sinner melts into the shadows he flicks a note in Lenny’s direction. He bites it in the air with his teeth and holds it out in front of his eyes.

  “Your choice.”

  Nyri meows softly and curls up in her usual corner. The next moment, she is also gone.

  “What do you want?”

  Assert studies Cenvin with contempt. He looks daggers back.

  “I’m here with a warning.”

  He quietly says. She leans against one of the caravan’s wagons and adjusts her mask.

  “Go ahead and spit.”

  “Don’t you get in my way, Ass-ert, or I’ll kill you.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  “I’d win.”

  “This is childish.”

  A wall of fiery arrows appears out of thin air and soars towards Cenvin. Each one is made of ice and blue flames. They quickly home in on their target, who futilely tries to dodge. One after another, they imbed themselves in Cenvin’s body. Assert watches coldly as he screams as he is burned and chilled. She takes a piece of fabric from the wagon and despite the nearby merchant’s cries, she uses it to wipe the blood off her armor. With a wave of her hand, the arrows disintegrate, leaving Cenvin on the ground, coughing, bleeding, and severely burned.

  “Keep in line.”

  A fierce emotion bobbles into Cenvin’s mind. The thought of revenge, the dream of seeing Assert’s blood on his rapier. His brain quickly begins to devise a plan as he stumbles away from the caravan, clutching his wounds.

  “Durand, sir, how may I help you right now? I advise you to pack your belongings if you haven’t already…” Cedric welcomes.

  Durand does not return the warm greeting. “I need to know everything about you. To make sure you are reliable.”

  “That is perfectly logical, sir. I’m Cedric Waknratier, a local at Italica City if you will. For the past ten years, I have been the commander in chief of many merchant caravans. I navigate, regulate, and make sure everything’s in order. Trust me, sir, with me at the helm, nothing will go wrong. A trip from Italica City to Starmetal Valley is no daunting task.”

  “I am glad to hear it, Cedric. We will all be counting on you to make it to Seashine City. On the contrary, you can also rely on us to defend the merchants.”

  They share a polite but firm handshake in respect.

  Shyn stumbles through the desolate mountainside. For the past few days, she had been following a group of Orions to make it to Starmetal, but they seemingly got suspicious and took a detour in the middle of the night. Now she is lost amongst the Seashine Mountains, with no foodstuffs, direction, and most importantly: no ability. She is just another kid without her ability. Any Otherworld creature can overpower her.

  That’s why she jumped when a shrill voice erupted from behind a boulder.

  “A delicious meal!”

  She turns cautiously towards the boulder. It’s shorter than her, so whatever’s hiding behind it is likely very small, even compared to Shyn.

  “Show yourself! Or I’ll beat you up!”

  She pauses as a spiky arm waves up. It isn’t that big and is shaped like a humanoid arm, but there are disgustingly red spikes protruding from the skin. It looks unnaturally abnormal compared to the bony pale arm it’s part of.

  “Come to us!”

  She dashes to the boulder’s side, still keeping a distance but now she can see the back.

  Two small pale creatures stare at her before soon erupting into a saddening laughter. Their bodies, like their arms, also have painful-looking protrusions. One gremlin’s eye is gone, replaced with a massive spike that grew from the socket. They attempt a little dance, but the spikes severely hinder their movements. Little droplets of blood occasionally drip from the spikes.

  “You found us! We are so happy right now!”

  One of them says with a grimace. Her natural empathy rising, she lowers her guard and draws closer.

  “We haven’t seen someone so nice to us in ages!” The other one adds. “The bar isn’t high, because we usually get attacked on sight.”

  Shyn kneels and points a finger at them. The one-eyed creature grabs it and shakes it vigorously.

  “We are Beakimps, at your service!”

  “Are you… Otherworld?”

  “I must assume we are! To be perfectly honest, we always thought of ourselves as dignified High Elves…”

  Shyn laughs wholeheartedly and stands up.

  “Are there others?”

  “Yes! Yes! We have an entire city! Please follow us! You’re our distinguished guest!”

  “Sweet!”

  They begin making their way down the rocky slopes, chatting and joking with each other. Shyn noticed that the Beakimps sometimes can seem sarcastic, but the one-eyed Beakimp, Sieko, explained with great patience that they simply do not understand the deeper tones of Common speech. Talking is objective for the Beakimps. Everyone talks the same.

  Leading Shyn into a small hole that her small frame can just barely fit inside, Sieko closes the grass-capped lid behind them, sealing away the outside world.