The new questing module scored one point for asking, rather than imposing a quest down my throat without consideration. I also appreciated the clearly outlined rewards. Seeing I'd receive positive karma, eased the worry I was on another hacked module. Although, the titling of the quest was cause for concern.

  Blindly trusting the system brought me to level 10, but also possibly made me accountable for a clean 95% population reduction, which was a fact I still hadn't reconciled. Any time an inkling of guilt arose, I balled it up and tossed it in my mental recycling bin. So far, the score was ten to zero in my favor.

  Kora entered the meeting room with two piping hot coffees on a serving tray with sides of cream, sugar, and mystery syrup with a tar-like consistency.

  "Don't bring them coffee when I'm dressing them down," Eamon growled. "You will obey the terms of the contract you signed."

  "I'm starting to think you just like yelling at people," I said as I accepted the quest in the same breath, clearing the text from the air. "Kora, I'm ready to register an adventurer's party with the guild. Will you please prepare the paperwork?"

  Kora set down the tray, and ducked out of the room, pretending she never heard me.

  "You work directly for the Gilded Boar. You can't register an official group while you're under contract. Tomorrow you'll be riding west to the ports--"

  "This arrangement isn't working. I quit."

  "I'll happily sanction a five gold raise.” Jing clapped his hands together like that would diffuse the tension.

  Instead, the remark infuriated Eamon, making me fear for the table's life and our coffee's futures.

  "Let's part ways in an amicable fashion. As a noble adventurer, I will always defend the realm and heed the heroes' call during emergencies if it fits my schedule." I buried my disdain for the old man under a polite smile.

  "That's not how this works." Eamon cracked his knuckles. "Do you need to read the contract again?"

  "Here's how I see it. You can absolve the contract and we remain allies. Or you can exile me from the guild and we become enemies." I raised my hand, index finger extended, stopping Jing from opening his mouth. "Consider what's best for the Gilded Boar before you answer. I’m sure Soul Viper, Black Diamond, and Pearl Banner wish they had done the same."

  The time for appeasement had passed. I needed autonomy. If I had to sign the adventurers’ party registration papers in Eamon's blood to complete the quest, I would.

  Eamon's rage flipped into a full-throated laughter. "I've only ever known one other person to carry an ego as outrageous as yours and the weight of it killed him."

  His demeanor's sudden 180 caught me off-guard. I had expected another tirade or an outright brawl. Instead, the old freak was grinning ear to ear like his edible had just kicked in.

  "You heard him. Absolve the contract." Eamon crossed his arms and leaned back in his wooden chair. "Will you fulfill your obligation to participate in the king’s inauguration tournament?"

  "I'm looking forward to it. Now, if you'll excuse us."

  I stood up and Eamon raised his finger in the air. "One last thing. Our dungeon appraiser went to grade Waystone's quarry dungeon for our records and discovered it had been cleared. No witnesses saw any groups in the area.”

  Not falling for the obvious bait, I rolled my eyes, feigning annoyance. "I won't apologize for Xodoven's fuck-up. He's the one who lost the key."

  I exited the room, and Viessa followed after offering a quick half-bow. Confused by how easily Eamon relinquished control, I rushed down the hall and past the counter.

  “The vice-captain declined your request, huh?" Kora asked.

  "No, I’ve been released. Prepare the papers," I said as I sought out an empty booth in the corner.

  I sat and laid my head down on the table over my arms, like I was in grade school trying to sleep in class.

  Void Seer.

  Wasting no time, I crawled from shadow to shadow, across the ceiling, doubling back into the meeting room.

  "I thought I could intimidate him, but it seems I pushed too far. I saw it in his eyes," Eamon said.

  "Saw what?"

  "His readiness to kill us."

  "Us? I offered him a 50% increase in salary! You're the damn vice-captain. It's your job to keep our wards in line! If they all found out they can void their contracts without consequence... Are you saying you couldn't stop him?"

  "Not without extreme damage to the guild hall. Also Summers sent a raven."

  "The captain sent one to you, and not to me?"

  Eamon slid the letter across the table.

  "Since the captain was already in Durotai, I asked him to inquire about the Hollow Demon's disciple in our last correspondence."

  "And?" Jing windmilled his hands through the air as if he could physically speed up Eamon’s tale.

  "The Hollow Demon indeed had a disciple who went missing a decade ago. Vanished without a trace. Allegedly they were close, and the Hollow Demon was devastated by his disappearance. It cannot be a coincidence he's emerged here, of all places, after so many years."

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  Jing tapped his foot, expression grim. "You think this is one of the Hollow Demon's far-sighted plans?"

  "We'd be fools to assume otherwise. Summers advised we keep a vigilant eye on Cyprus until he returns for his own assessment. With time, his true motives will surface."

  Jing couldn't frown any harder if somebody was pulling his cheeks down with pliers. "The captain should be here, dealing with this, and courting Iskavar Sawara."

  "You know as well as anybody, the Sawaras have never stood with the Gilded Boar. Perhaps, the captain's outlandish fixation with endearing the Devil's Alliance to our cause will enshrine our status."

  "A miracle? Although, I don't know of many miracles that involve entangling oneself with a ruthless sect of savages."

  "Cyprus!" Kora boomed, severing my connection with Void Seer.

  I raised my head from the table, as she slid into the booth across from me next to Viessa. She laid out a short stack of papers before me.

  "I'll need your guild ID," she said.

  I retrieved it from my satchel, passed it over, and she held it up to the glowing orange magelight hanging over the table. She frowned, flicking the burnt edges of the ID's thick-cut paper.

  "I'll issue you a new one."

  "Thanks."

  "And what's your party's name?" Kora asked, quill inked and ready.

  "Hmm..."

  It needed to be mysterious and memorable. Something that could fit on various merchandise.

  "Anomaly."

  I liked how Anomaly rolled off the tongue. Plus, it was abstract enough to give us endless leeway when it came to designing a logo. I could see it now: magic printing presses mass-manufacturing "I was there when Anomaly stopped the apocalypse" t-shirts.

  "I assume your apprentice is your only member? I'll need their name or alias."

  "The Silent Healer."

  Kora filled in one of many blank lines, flipped two pages, filled in another line and stamped it.

  "Congratulation's Cyprus. Tomorrow, once Ingcaster's Official Guild Registrar enters the record, you will stand as Anomaly’s leader."

  "Great," I said, anticipating the quest completion text.

  When it didn't appear, I realized I'd have to wait till the next business day.

  "For the group to remain active, you must complete a minimum of one contract each year, and as the leader you're liable for the year-end tax, which scales according to your party's size."

  "In return, you and your members gain privileges reserved for recognized parties: participation in Gilded Boar sponsored auctions, and the assurance your IDs will be honored at every guild hall across Aclana, including non-Gilded Boar organizations. Furthermore, your party becomes eligible for commission bonuses on high-risk contracts, invitations to closed-door councils, and the right to petition the guild during annual conclaves where policies and decrees are debated."

  Kora straightened the papers and let out a relieved breath as if she'd endured this recital a hundred times before. "Do you understand the terms?"

  "I was hoping for a discount on the Gilded Boar's juice bar. But yeah, sounds great."

  She stamped one last document and took her leave.

  I gestured to the door, and with Viessa beside me, we left for the stable.

  ***

  Dust rose in the broad daylight. I rode at a steady trot beside Viessa, pulling the wagon behind us through Ingcaster's congested streets. She yawned and I shrugged.

  Why am I not tired?

  I had gone two days without sleep, experiencing no ill effect. I felt wide-awake, and surprisingly hopeful despite the end of days looming over us. Sure, a permanent anger lingered for Chaos, leaving enough leftover for Justice and her mistakes, too.

  But freeing myself from Eamon's grasp without having to rip his throat out, proved violence didn't solve everything. Sometimes the threat of violence was plenty--an invigorating revelation.

  On the other hand, Viessa had hardly spoken since we birthed the apocalypse and met Fayador. I wondered which event had been more traumatic. Neither benefited her mental health, and even with my depth of self-help knowledge, I didn't feel qualified to act as the elf's therapist.

  Instead, we rode north through thinning crowds until we were only a few blocks from Oarwin. From there, I had us circle a half-mile radius at a slow trot, wondering how many loops we could complete before she realized what was happening.

  The other reason for the odd maneuver was that I hoped Veigan would sense the rhythmic pattern of our movement, and appear with Garik.

  "Why are we doing circles?" Viessa asked as we completed the second lap.

  "I didn't think you could talk after skipping so many meals."

  "And I didn't think you could smile." Viessa raised three fingers in the air. "Three times since dawn! The gods have abandoned us, the apocalypse looms, and a nightmarish entity dwells inside you, yet you're in the most cheerful state I've ever seen you in!"

  I scratched my chin. Had I really smiled three times?

  "Now that you mention it, I am feeling pretty good. I guess having Justice admit she was at fault regarding the tutorial was somewhat cathartic. Also, she looked defeated, like Gadika became a lost cause. Notice how quick she dipped?"

  "This is why my soul is crushed, Cyprus. Every hour of prayer, every service... The grand temple's constructed for Galdir's worship across countless generations... It was all for naught. Galdir never heard us, and his trusted angels have turned their backs."

  "They aren't angels. Janitors at best. And they can't be that trusted, after all, Galdir left them behind."

  I heard Viessa stifle a cry, and I knew my words were making it worse.

  "There, there."

  While the elf didn't break down any further, those two magic words hardly eased her spiral into despair.

  "I find it oddly comforting that expectations couldn't sink any lower. The worst has already arrived. From here, the only direction left is up." I stretched my arms overhead. "Today, we're free. Unshackled from authority, divine or otherwise. Reallocate the faith you once reserved for the gods to yourself. People on Earth do it all the time with money, it's called embezzlement."

  The silence returned, but her composure stabilized. As we began our third lap, she asked, "May I see the pocket glass?"

  I fished it out from my satchel and tossed it to the elf. In no time, she passed it back.

  "I put one mastery point into Heaven's Touch, which increased its effectiveness and regeneration rate."

  "What ability did you take?"

  "Warden Barrier. It's otherworldly how in one instant I now have the knowledge to cast the Noriandrol clan's magic without a moment's study."

  All the barriers I had seen thus far broke and ended with a dead mage.

  "It's just a barrier?"

  "Warden Barrier’s defense increases in proportion to the recipient's strength and vitality. Mages from the Noriandrol clan are sought after for this spell alone."

  "If you say so."

  As we rode past a temple and slipped into the long shadow of the great bell hanging from its rafters, a sudden blast of frigid air struck. Yet, only I could feel its bite.

  Feed me.

  I tried ignoring the dreadful voice until it shared a glimpse of its hunger. All it took was a few moments of its gnawing pressure before I demoted myself to the demon's doordash driver.

  Tonight.

  A simple non-verbal agreement for food, shut-off the faucet of inner pain and I could breath again. The sunlight washed away the residing chill. I saw no benefit in mentioning what had just occurred.

  On our fourth lap, Veigan and Garik stepped out from the corner beside a trading post, its porch cluttered with junk no one seemed willing to buy. As they crossed the street, Veigan whipped his neck from side to side, making his paranoia obvious enough that even a pair of antique hunting grandmothers would sense something was amiss.

  "Good day, Boss." Garik offered a respectful nod.

  Veigan mustered a smile with the enthusiasm of a sloth gargling battery acid. "If we must meet... We've rented a location not far from here."

  "Lead the way.”