Chapter 39 Tre Tab Gam Gee Sheh Sheh.

  The world flashed and suddenly there were marble floors and countless books surrounding them. The smells of ash, sulfur, and ancient tomes assaulted Isaac and Lenna’s nostrils. Isaac balanced in place for a moment before his world suddenly jolted from the teleportation. The teleportation had been too smooth. His body and soul hadn’t even realized that they had moved for nearly a full second. As soon as they had, the whiplash from disconnecting and reconnecting to mana itself in a different location hit him all at once. Isaac toppled and barely kept himself from face-planting onto the marble floors.

  While Isaac was feeling the entire teleportation experience in reverse order, Lenna felt so cold that she sneezed. Her body could tell that it was pleasantly warm but her soul felt cold. It took her a moment to realize that it was because all of the unbound heat mana was not unbound at all. All of it was held in place by one being’s absolute control. Control that was so perfect that Lenna knew that she would not be able to refill her own mana reserves in his presence. Too much of her mana, and power in general, was bent towards fire and heat so if she tried to take in fresh mana while around him, she would unbalance herself, maybe to a devastating degree.

  “Welcome!” A voice boomed with so much power that the chandeliers above them all rattled.

  Isaac was still recovering from his teleportation experience and subsequent fall, so it was Lenna who was forced to meet the Guild Leader eye to eye. As soon as her silver eyes met his crimson red ones, she felt an instant almost overwhelming fear try to take root inside of her. She clamped it down with the full fury of her broken oath and it was shattered before it could properly influence her actions. Lenna wasn’t sure what the protocol was so she just offered the Guild Leader a moderate bow, maybe a bit lower than she should have, and spoke: “Greetings, Guild Leader.”

  That was how long it took for Isaac to regain his bearings and pick himself back up onto his feet using his own shadow. It always took him a few seconds to properly get his bearings again after a teleportation so he was still feeling a little out of it, but picking himself up was very low on the difficulty scale when it came to utilizing his power. “Guild Leader.” Isaac offered the ancient being in front of him a nod even before their eyes met. Once they did, however, one of Isaac’s flaws became very evident.

  Isaac took half a step forwards and lowered himself slightly as if he was halfway between squaring up with the Guild Leader and just launching at him. “Isaac?” Lenna said and glanced towards her mate just in time to see his sword appear in his hand. It hadn’t ignited yet but it was only a matter of time. Lenna placed her hand on his back and threw her aura through him in a heavy-handed wave. The dragon fear that had attempted to take hold was thrown out and she could see his shoulders visibly relax slightly.

  “So it’s true then, you really are an ancient dragon.” Isaac commented and Lenna felt his gratitude towards her and his trepidation towards Space and the Guild Leader in equal measure. Isaac was never one to be good with authority and the two that they were in a room with were at the top. One of all of the human demigods, and the other of the Adventurers’ Guild that employed them.

  “And you lack a flight response.” The Guild Leader grinned. Triangular sharp teeth were on full display. “I’m surprised you are not a barbarian. Those folk often lack a flight response as well.”

  “I’m not compatible.” Isaac replied and narrowed his eyes on the Guild Leader. Now that he knew what was happening, and had a clear head, he was able to keep himself in check by circling enough death flames through his core and head that no other magical effects would survive. “Isn’t that something that you can turn off?”

  The Guild Leader shook his head. “No.” He replied simply and then elaborated a bit: “But you can get more resistant to it over time.”

  “Gil, Jane is getting antsy, we should keep this quick before she reshapes the world out of boredom.” Klein told the Guild Leader.

  “Right.” Gilgamesh replied with a nod. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to accompany Lady Catastrophe on a quest to slay a forgotten and ancient evil. Said ancient evil is a lich who had gone unnoticed for at least a century, probably closer to a millennium.” He slid a small stack of papers that were clipped together by a small metal pinch clip. “Inside is all of the background knowledge and theories we have related to the target. The short of it is that this lich has under their command an army of the undead no smaller than three hundred thousand and is currently working their way here. There is a castle under the command of the Kingdom of Altia at the base of this mountain range. It is preferred if the castle never even comes under assault.”

  Isaac nodded and strode over to the Guild Leader’s desk. The massive monstrosity of carpentry dwarfed Isaac but looked like it fit the golden haired man perfectly. “Will Catastrophe have a game plan or are we just winging it?” Isaac asked and took the offered papers.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Who knows.” The Guild Master grinned. “I take it you are accepting the job?”

  “I heard that payment for these kinds of things is usually in the form of favors.” Isaac replied and glanced up from the papers to lock eyes with the Guild Leader. From so close a distance, Isaac could tell that his entire mana pool in pure death flames only had a chance at killing the Guild Leader. And even then, it would not be a quick endeavor. Five seconds of the Guild Leader not resisting in the slightest, at the very least. But no one would just hold their own power at bay while they were turned to black ash. In short, Isaac didn’t have a chance in all of the nine hells at winning against the Guild Leader, not that he had a reason to, the thought still came to his head unbidden.

  “Yes.” Gilgamesh replied. “A favor means that it is easy for me but would be hard or nearly impossible for you.” He clarified. “If something like that comes to mind, after the mission has been completed, then let me know.”

  Isaac nodded. “One or two favors?” He asked and nodded back towards Lenna. “I’m not greedy enough to ask for three,” His shadow opened up and Shamesh rose from it with a bow. Shamesh got the hint to stay quiet unless spoken to as soon as he realized how unreasonably powerful the other two people in the room with them were. “but there are still three double platinum level adventurers here.”

  The Guild Leader smirked and looked past Isaac, Shamesh, and Lenna to look at Klein. “He reminds me of you, back in the day.”

  Klein laughed. “I don’t think I was ever quite that brazen, but I am inclined to agree.”

  Gilgamesh looked back at Isaac. “One favor that is specific to each, you and Lady Hellfire, or one more broad favor.” He told the young dark mage.

  “Thank you.” Isaac said with an acknowledging nod, and he meant it. He already knew what Lenna’s favor needed to be. Honestly, he would use his favor or her as well if the Guild Leader would allow it in the future. Lenna needed new armor and eventually she will need a sword crafted by the Demigod of Blades, the one that Klein had told Edward to seek out.

  “I do not know why Lua wanted you both attached to Jane specifically for this mission, so if you know anything, I would appreciate it if you would share what you know.” Gilgamesh told Isaac without breaking eye contact.

  Isaac frowned in thought for a brief moment. “There is something going on in the Innerworld. I don’t know why Lua wants us away for the time being, but here we are.” He replied.

  Gilgamesh nodded and got up from his seat with a smile. His heavy footfalls sounded like he weighed tons but the marble floors held firm. He walked around his desk while looking at Lenna. “Lady Hellfire, I take it that is not your normal sword?”

  “It is not.” Lenna replied. “My old one was a casualty of our last battle.”

  Gilgamesh nodded. “I am aware of the effect gear has on an adventurer. Give me your sword.” He told her and Lenna did as she was told. She handed it to him as he reached her and he took it in his bear paw sized hands. “The craftsmanship is fine, if a bit rushed.” He commented and held the flat of the blade up to his mouth. “Tre Tab Gam Gee Sheh Sheh.” With each word a rune was burned directly into the side of the blade. He then held out his hand towards Klein and the Demigod of Space pulled a roughly circular ruby out of a portal. The ruby was about the size of an eyeball but looked to have been crudely mined from wherever it had naturally formed. Gilgamesh took the ruby and squeezed it in his free hand for a moment. When he was done it had turned more ovular and had begun shedding red light. Isaac could feel the mana density from the gem and it felt like it had more mana inside it than Isaac did.

  Lenna watched on slack jawed as Gilgamesh remade her sword into something that could have spawned legends all by itself. He pressed the ovular ruby into the middle of the crossguard longways. Either Gilgamesh or the ruby melted the steel out of the way until the gem fit perfectly inside of it. With a plucking motion, all of the heat from the molten steel vanished and it was cooled back down to room temperature. He then took his nail and drew two lines, one down each side of the blade, connecting the first rune to the ruby and the runes all ignited as if they were made of living fire.

  “There, that should last you through your next battle.” Gilgamesh told her and handed Lenna back her sword.

  “Thank you.” Lenna whispered and took the offered weapon.

  “Anything you cut with it will burst into flames.” Gilgamesh told her. “There are no activation conditions or safety precautions. It will also only last a month or so before the runes start to break apart and the gem begins to dim naturally. It will activate around three hundred times before it runs out of power. Keep that in mind.”

  Lenna nodded along with everything that the ancient golden dragon told her. “I will.” She promised. “Thank you.” She said again.

  “Think of it as repayment for the information your mate has given me.” The Guild Leader told her.

  Isaac cleared his throat. “Then I think it is only proper that I tell you something else.” He began. “There is another power at work in the depths of the Innerworld. I do not know what it is but I felt it and it was powerful. Depending on what exactly it was, I would put it on par with a demigod. It noticed me a few nights before the full moon.”

  Gilgamesh and Klein’s eyes widened at the same time and they looked directly at each other. “That.” Klein was the one to speak. He looked like he was ready to head out to find what it was immediately but stopped himself with a frown. “But why wouldn’t Lua just tell us that there was something that powerful down there that needed to be addressed? Either Ori or I would have gone to check it out.”

  “Unless she doesn’t want anyone to check it out for some reason.” Gilgamesh concluded. He hummed in thought and the chandeliers rattled once more. It caused Isaac to look upwards but his eyes never reached the chandeliers. Instead, Isaac’s eyes noticed that the wooden structure behind the Guild Leader’s desk was, in fact, another desk. The second desk was just sized for a five story tall being, probably one with wings and a long tail.

  “Thank you.” Klein told Isaac which yanked his eyes off of the dragon sized desk. “You have given us a lot to think about. Lua’s guidance is as gentle as ever, which leaves the rest up to us to figure out.”

  “Yes.” Gilgamesh agreed. “Klein, would you take them the rest of the way?”

  “Of course.” Klein replied with a nod. “Now, unless there is something that either of you absolutely need to do before we leave, let us be off.” He looked towards Shamesh with a raised eyebrow.

  “I’ve got him.” Isaac said and took a step towards Klein as Shamesh bowed out and sank into the dark mage’s shadow.

  “Good.” Klein replied and positioned himself almost between Isaac and Lenna. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers once more. In but another blink, the duo had reached the far side of the Altian Mountain Range and were at the edge of the plains where far too many small human nations tried to slaughter each other into submission. In short, it was the perfect place to collect corpses en masse without anyone noticing.