Armareth's Tower

They came for him before he finished his drink. Six men, hard from traveling the tower. They looked different from most of the others in the taverns. David watched as most of the patrons fled as the men entered. He cursed himself for being stupid. He should have expected this. This was a city overflowing with otherworlders. Like Gaora, this place must have people like these folks who would try to shake down those who just arrived. He hissed again when one of the men threw a small purse at the smiling serving girl. She gave him that polite smile before disappearing out a door behind the bar.

David scanned their faces. They were a random bunch, covered in poor, padded armor and weapons strapped to their waists and backs. The man in front was broad-shouldered, well built and lean. His boot was covered with dust, and so was the hem of his trousers. Among the bandits and cutthroats, he looked like a small-time noble. His leather armor shone as if recently maintained. A strap of knives across his chest, hilts peeking from small slits.

David held his gaze, already bored. He saw their tower rings, all except the one that seemed like the leader of this small group.

“David, right?” he asked as he turned the chair opposite David so he could sit with his chest resting on the chair’s ladder spine. David shrugged, unsure what to make of this. They were obviously strong. He couldn’t sense the essence off them though, which meant they weren’t that strong.

Or they can suppress the flow of essence within them, Ignis supplied. David frowned, putting his curiosity away so he could focus on the threat in front of him. Some part of his brain chided him. He should have left immediately. The man in front of him looked unblemished, except the the small scar just under his right eye. A small symbol, like a single-line spiral or a snake. David turned to the others, realizing they all had it. He couldn’t see the last man, the one standing by the door of the tavern.

“Welcome to Zur-Del,” The man said, smiling. There, David thought, staring at the vacant spots in his mouth where someone had knocked some teeth out. The man had seemed too perfect for him. His hair was night black, blending perfectly with his coffee-brown skin. For a mercenary or a thief, he’d seemed too put together. Now he looked fitting, slipping into the role he was trying to play. David leaned forward, deciding he might as well play along.

“Thank you, Friend,” David said, smiling, sounding eager. “I only just arrived. And I am supposed to go to the temple. I believe you can show me the way?”

Some of the others chuckled. David ignored them. Most of them had three fully formed tower rings. He wasn’t sure how the tower’s power scale was measured, but he was sure they wouldn’t be a problem. This man in front of him, however, was a mystery. He was calm. Perhaps it was a bluff. David didn’t want to take the risk. Not yet, anyway.

“Friend,” the man said, grinning. “I like that. I came here as Gabriel, but they call me Zeno. This world is a much different place, and we are different people.” He waved as if to say he didn’t want to bore David with all that. “I will get right to the point. David. You are one of the few the tower has acknowledged. Which means you are one of the few folks in Zur-Del all want a piece of, and I—”

“You want to protect me?” David asked, surprised. Zeno grinned. David wondered if he knew how much of a change his smile made in his appearance. Zeno leaned even closer. His stare was steady as if he was trying to see what lay beyond David’s eyes. David shook his head, reclining. He was suddenly bored.

“Not interested,” David said, and before Zeno could speak again, David continued, “But I would like to know if you have seen three kids. A boy and two girls. They might have come this way.”

Zeno turned to the others. They shook their heads and David shrugged. He’d expected to find his siblings here, but it was looking like it was going to be difficult. He didn’t mind the stress. He would tear through the tower to find them. Yet, even as true as that was, he couldn’t shake the guilt away. They would have been with him now if he hadn’t pushed them in.

They would be dead. You’d have died too, Ignis said with unusual calmness. What you should worry about is this man in front of you. You still can’t sense the essence from him because he has complete control over it. You can’t do that because you have not achieved enlightenment.

David turned to Zeno. He couldn’t see how the man was a threat. “I thank you for the help,” David said, standing up. He heard the shuffle of footsteps and the hiss of steel leaving sheaths. One of the men pulled the large axe strapped to his back. He was large, with a bushy red beard. David looked from them to Zeno. They checked to see if they could see his tower rings. They couldn’t. But from what Ignis had said Zeno could probably tell how strong David was.

“Do you really want to lose all five of them?” David asked. He opened his palm his sword formed in it. There was a new crack on the surface. David stared at it, wondering when he’d done that. He hadn’t gotten a message for that. Then that meant he was damaging the sword? Ignis chuckled, amused.

That is a result of your resonance. You are still too weak to cause any kind of damage to me.

David noticed that some of the others had shifted back. He turned fully to Zeno. The man had that annoying grin on again. There was something crazy about how he stared at the sword. Nothing like Liam’s kind of crazy. This was some kind of hunger. He pushed off his chair and clapped. The sound cracked like a thunder’s rumble. The roof of the tavern groaned.

“I see why your name popped up on the tower’s ranking,” he said, finding it difficult to look away from David’s sword. “I wonder what other riches you carry, but even if you don’t have anything else on you. This sword alone puts your life in danger.”

Zeno’s hunger was infectious. It pulled his other minions closer, their faces spread in terrible smiles, each sneering with confidence.

“I will be fair to you, David. I will give you two options, and you must pick fast. Others will come for you. Some I can fight off for you, others I will have to step aside and let them devour you. You can trade the sword for one piece of information, only one. Or will you fight me fairly for it?” He leaned closer, pulling the sleeve of his shirt up to show David his five tower rings. The fifth was half-formed. Skulls dotted the four complete rings, their details vivid. Each skull had a varying number of eyes–most of three-eyed. Some of the eyes were blotted out while some shone with color.

Death giver, Ignis hissed. David frowned. Zeno must have seen his confusion because he grinned wickedly as he pulled his sleeves back down.

“You don’t know it, do you?” after a moment of silence, he leaned on the edge of the table and spread his hands. “All the more reason to give me the sword. I can do much more with the dragon’s attributes than you can. I don’t have to take a look at your tower ring to see what you are. Some kind of knight, aren’t you? You will die in Zur-Del. But with Zeno by your side, you might just live long enough to find your friends and leave.”

“And if I say no, politely?” David asked. He wasn’t sure what a Death Giver was, but he could suddenly feel something pushing down on him. It was invisible and heavy as if gravity was crushing him. To his left, Zeno’s men were suffering too. They all looked at the man, their master, who now seemed terribly pissed.

“Your options remain,” Zeno said coldly.

“A fair…fight,” David croaked, his chest heavy with the pressure of whatever force Zeno was trying to crush him with. The weight vanished almost immediately. David staggered forward. He’d known the man was powerful, but that was insane. He hadn’t even moved a finger to attack. Was that some kind of spell?

The other men groaned as they stood up. Some needed help standing. Zeno sat back heavily on his chair, sweat beading on his forehead. He tried to smile, but he wasn’t much of an actor. It was obvious to David now. Whatever Zeno had done had taken a toll on him too.

“What did he do, Ignis?” David asked, trying to channel the dragon’s consciousness.

Rage of Essence, Ignis said. It is a common skill. In my time, almost everyone worth their weapon could do it effortlessly. He didn’t even hold his rage of essence for a minute and see how pitiful he looks. I might have overestimated him.

“I still don’t understand what he di–”

Ignis hissed. He pressed on you with his rage of essence. Good control of essence gives you something of an otherworldly power. You cast a wide blanket of essence pressure that can push down on others of lower power levels. Most people used it to intimidate or immobilize their opponents. This fool just tried to show you how far apart you are in terms of strength.

David nodded. Now that he had a perfect picture in mind, he started to imagine how he could do it too. Ignis hadn’t mentioned that he needed to have at least five tower rings for it to work. Zeno stood up, already replenished. He walked past David, gesturing for him to follow and David did.

“What do I get if I win?” David asked. He hadn’t heard Zeno mention that in the terms of the duel. Now the man turned sharply, face hard as a rock. “You get my sword if I lose, but what do I get if I win?”

“Your life, stupid,” the red beard said. Zeno shot him a glare and the silence was palpable. David waited.

“You will get your answer,” Zeno said, turning to walk out of the tavern. David didn’t move.

“You might have left the real world for too long, Zeno. They don’t manufacture stupid there anymore. You just said you didn’t know the answer to my question.”

Zeno snorted. He leaned out to scan the road before answering. “I know someone who can tell you what you want. She will ask for a price and I will pay it. Her…skill is somewhat dark. I would rather not go there, but that sword in your hand is worth it. Worth more than you know.”

“I know what my weapon is worth,” David said and Zeno snorted again. “This person. She is a seer?”

“Something like that. Now, enough talk. Let’s go somewhere they can’t find us.”

They spilled out, splitting almost immediately after they hit the main road. Zeno pulled David with him into the next alley they found. They came out the back into a literal dirt road. The sudden change gave David a shock. Zeno chuckled, gesturing for David to keep up. The stench here was overwhelming, but David followed. Heaps of filth lined this road. This place might as well have been a separate world, attached to the clean, cobbled city of Zur-Del.

David kept on Zeno as they zippled through the dark behind the city. As they ran they reached deeper within. Zeno was fast, but Dacid kept up with him. The putrid smell reduced as they ran. Landscapes vanished and changed. Children screamed excitedly at the sight of Zeno. He didn’t slow down and neither did David. Essence filled him up, replenished him, and reduced the weight of exhaustion. When the bandit leader stopped, they were far from the tavern, or any form of settlement at all. They had crested a hill, and behind them, the city was spread like a large canvas of colorful paintings. Much of what David could see was beautiful, but now he knew that the resplendence covered the sore within.

“We wait for witnesses,” Zeno said, catching his breath, “And then we begin.”

The witnesses were three other bandits. Red beard with the axe and two others. They sat with their backs against one of the few trees David could see. Zeno faced David and lifted his right palm up.

“I swear on Amareth’s name that I will uphold the agreed terms of the duel,” he said. Then motioned for David to say it. David shrugged and repeated what Zeno said. At first, nothing happened, then he felt something squeeze on his right arm and a crisscrossed burn appeared where he felt the sting. He moaned, biting down on the pain. Zeno smiled.

“First time, then?” He asked, smug with the certainty of his victory. In the course of their reaching the hill, Ignis had told him what he knew about Death Givers and David had formulated the best counter for Zeno’s power. He had wanted to hold back and simply tire the man out, but now he was annoyed, brimming with irritation and they chuckled and laughed.

“Ready?” Zeno asked. David nodded. Zeno looked to Red Beard and nodded.

“Begin,” Red Beard yelled and David summoned the left hand of chaos just as a poisonous vine shot out of the tree. It launched out like a missile, but Ignis had warned David. Most Death Givers could taint and manipulate nature to a degree. David stretched out his left hand and caught the vine with the gauntlet. It snapped and faded to nothing, the poison hissing on the surface of the gauntlet until it evaporated.

“Pathetic,” David said, his face carrying the disgust he felt in the depths of his soul. “All that performance, the lies, and the grandstanding. You lured me here, only to use something insanely obvious?” David asked.

Ignis snorted, but David ignored the dragon.

Spell: Gale Slash

This was the only wind spell he could use, but it was enough. It hissed as it pushed forward; a thin arc of wind blade. Zeno leaped up frantically. He was still shocked, still wary. David sent another slash at him before he could reach the ground. Zeno was swift. He left himself drop hard on the ground and rolled to his knees, his hand gathering essence for another spell, but David had seen through it and drove forward to wait for him with his blade leveled at the bandit’s neck. Zeno growled, his eyes wide with rage. David stared down at him with what he hoped was venomous arrogance.

“You have lost.”