Mantle of the Gods

We snuck out of the palace.

I had a feeling that we hadn’t left undetected, but I didn’t really care. We weren’t stopped and that was the main thing.

Once we got outside the wall, Rix started running. There was something free about just letting loose and taking off in the night. The cool air rushed against my face as I tried to keep up with Rix. I should have had similar Speed stats, but she was easily staying ahead of me.

After an hour of running, She led me to the overlook where Trent had parked the RV before.

“You spent stat points.” I dropped onto the ground as I tried to catch my breath.

She wasn’t even breathing hard and just looked at me like I’d stated the obvious.

“Why’d you bring me here?” I motioned at the harbor.

“It’s a good view.” She pointed at the mountains on our right. "And a good place to watch the sunrise.” She trailed her finger down to the water. "Then I’m going to throw you in there.”

“Why?”

Rix smiled. "Because you need to stop for a moment. You need to appreciate the sunrise. Take in the air. Swim a little. Forget about the dungeon. Forget about the Gods and monsters. For a few minutes, just appreciate being alive.”

“I can’t swim.” I folded my arms.

“Then don’t go out over your head.” She eyed me like she was waiting for me to get something.

“You’re doing a Trent thing.” I stood up and walked over to her. "Aren’t you?”

“Probably.” She sat down on the edge of the cliff. "You and I, we have more to worry about than the others.” Rix patted the spot beside her. “But we also have a lot more that we can do to help.”

I walked over and sat next to her. “So what are we supposed to do?”

“Let Trent worry about the big stuff.” She grinned. "And let me worry about killing stuff.”

“What does that leave me to worry about?” I shook my head.

“Breakfast?”

It wasn’t the worst thing she could have teased me with.

“You’re telling me not to worry? How? What about everything that happened yesterday?”

“What did you have to worry about yesterday?” She eyed me. "You had to buy equipment and clear two floor bosses and be home in time for dinner.” She shrugged. "What was so hard about that?”

“I…” I tried to think. "That wasn't everything I had to worry about.”

“That was everything that you had to worry about.” She started twirling a dagger between her fingers. “The two new ones were worried about getting rejected again, which they weren’t going to. Fray and Gesai were worried about not being good enough to keep, which almost got people hurt.” She looked at me. "And you were worried about not being able to protect everyone.” The redhead shook her head. "You’re not the Tank. Even if you could be. You need to focus on who you are, then help people patch up their cuts on the way home.” She swallowed. "Trust me, Trent has more safety nets in place than I can find.”

“You know something.” I looked at her. "You know more than you’re saying.”

She tapped her chest. "Funny thing about these seals. They can do so many different things.” She looked to her right. "Suns coming up.” Rix tapped my shoulder. "Hey! Are you listening?”

“Yeah…” I pointed at the harbor. "Are they supposed to be opening the containers from that end?”

She turned to look at where I was pointing.

It looked like a pair of dockworkers were opening one of the shipping containers from a panel on the side. They pulled out a box that looked big enough to hold a watermelon and closed the panel back up.

“That does not look normal.” I knew she was about to get into trouble when I saw the grin on her face. “Let’s check it out.”