Unique God Magical Item

The Rilokos Blade

Reforged in the luminous fires of the Forge of Divine Light, the Rilokos Blade is a sword of unparalleled might. In its original form, the weapon held an ember of the sun, burning with unbelievable brilliance. Reforged in the Subterranean Dungeon, the ember was bathed in the most pure luminous magic flowing from peaks of Elysium until it held the power of the sun and the cathkabel themselves.

"You . . . you changed the name?" Siora asked as her index closed.

"I hope that's okay. It felt more fitting." Ernie slumped to the ground. "I'm going to need a minute."

"Me too." Katalin was already lying on the floor. When she sat up, a sweat silhouette remained on the ground. "Ew."

"Is this it?" Lera asked. "Our rest and prep before the boss fight?"

"It is." Sylmare returned with Potilia and Cixilo, all carrying food they had bought from some claverstan. Despite how they looked, the rats provided surprisingly good food. It was on the more expensive side. Of course, Althowin's apprentices covered the cost without hesitation.

"It all worked?" Potilia asked. She nearly tripped with the food, but managed to steady herself before she spilled everything.

Siora patted the pommel. "It did."

Katalin hefted her backpack over and opened it wide. It was perfectly black inside and impossible to see anything, yet Katalin seemed perfectly sure she was grabbing the right things as she started pulling things out.

"Oh," Ernie said. "Time for that." He rubbed his face with battered hands. "I think I need a nap first."

"I can do this on my own." Katalin smiled broadly as she set an enormous metal sheet in front of her.

"I still don't understand," Lera said.

"A specter bag can fit a lot more than you'd think." Katalin pulled, with some effort, a full chest out that she set at her side.

"Could I fit in there?" Potilia asked as she set a plate of food beside Kat.

Katalin pulled the bag shut. "I actually think you would take apparition damage until it killed you."

"Yeah," Ernie said, not bothering to move. His eyes were drifting.

Potilia was already shoving food into her mouth as she crossed her legs and sat in one smooth, impressive motion beside Katalin. "Are you building that bomb?" she asked between bites.

Katalin only nodded as she looked over each of the materials she had gathered.

Potilia scooted a bit closer.

It took Siora a moment to realize she was just standing and staring at other people. They had obviously grown used to it to some extent since nobody had commented. Everyone looked relaxed and happy, ready for the potential horror that was to come on the next floor.

"Relax," Sylmare said quietly.

"I am." Was Siora lying? It didn't matter. "I'm fine."

Sylmare raised an eyebrow.

"We made it to the bottom."

"And now we all just need to win our battles." Sylmare adjusted her headband. "You've been impressive. I'll let Veph know."

Siora perked up a little. "Thank you."

"Just don't get murdered by the boss."

"Same to you."

Sylmare gave Siora a look, then walked away.

Making friends was easy. Acquaintances? Colleague? None of it mattered. Her weird party was finally getting a chance to relax and laugh.

She glanced at the sweating, unconscious form of Ernie.

Most of them were relaxing.

Katalin's hands glowed brightly as she heated and bent the sheet of metal. An edge caught the edge of her finger and easily sliced through the skin. She swore and punched the metal.

By the time everyone was finished eating, Katalin would have a bomb capable of killing the entire floor. So, maybe relaxation wasn't the right mindset.

***

Fortress Dungeon

Sixth Floor

One Shard Active

Owin fell onto his back.

Summon the Withered Shade

"Ah! Roese!" The skeleton looked around quickly, then spotted Owin. "Roese?"

"I got her out."

Shade took a step closer and gently kicked Owin with his foot. "And you?"

"I'm alive."

"You look like a crab ready to be cooked."

"I feel like it."

"This is a feeling you're familiar with?" Shade looked around, surveying the room. He scratched his cheek, which made a horrible noise like metal grating on metal. "Are you aware that we are being watched?" The yellow glow of an index illuminated Shade's face. "By vampires?"

"Huh?" Owin pushed himself up on his elbows.

There were indeed two mobs sitting at a table on the far side of the room. They were small with eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light. A game of cards had been going between them, though that had obviously paused when Owin arrived.

"Hi," Owin said.

They didn't respond. They didn't even move.

"Oh, they're just thralls. We're fine."

"That's what Ruvaine called me."

Shade closed his index and turned to Owin with narrow eye sockets. "Did you call her a bitch?"

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"Shade!"

The skeleton shrugged. "Well, here's a big question for you." He slowly pulled a wooden chair out from a nearby table and stomped on it. It splintered and fell apart, which made Owin flinch, but the thralls didn't move at all.

Owin sat up. "What?"

"Do you think you're susceptible to vampirism?" He crouched and started pushing around different parts of the broken chair.

Owin stood and just took a moment to make sure nothing was especially damaged. All of the chitin was in good condition, which was a surprise. Isotelus had all of its charges back, and nothing was noticeably injured on his body. Overall, the fifth floor had been successful.

"What's vampirism?" Owin finally asked.

Shade was standing with a broken piece of chair clutched in his armored hand. It ended in a sharp point, but looked like a terrible weapon. If Owin was stabbed with something like that, he would hardly feel it before crushing whoever stabbed him.

"Why are you holding a stick?"

"No. A stake." Shade wagged the piece of wood in front of Owin's face. "A wooden stake."

Owin took the piece and looked closer. He even opened his index and tried to see if there was something special, and . . . there wasn't.

"Pretend I don't know why I have this."

Shade had already grabbed another piece for himself. "You want me to pretend like I don't know that you're confused?"

"Uh, yes."

"Got it." Shade pushed around the rest of the broken chair with a foot.

The room was lined with bunk beds, most of which were undisturbed. All along the center, ending just before the door, were a series of circular tables with the same wooden chairs as the ones Shade had just broken.

"Are we in a bedroom?" Owin asked.

"More like a barracks. A thrall barracks." Shade crouched in front of him and held up his wooden stake, which was noticeably less pointy. "There is a legend that stabbing one of these into a vampire's chest is a sure way to kill them quickly."

Owin held up Isotelus, which flopped over like wet seaweed. "What if I just cut them in half?"

"Why don't I try this first, then you can cut someone in half if this doesn't work." Shade carefully plucked the stake from Owin's hand, now giving the skeleton one in each.

"Are thralls like other vampires? The only one I've fought was a fiend."

Shade shrugged as he walked through the room. As soon as he passed the nearest table, both thralls stood. Their motions were unnatural and quick.

"Don't die," Owin said. "Wait, what class are you?"

"If you don't like the answer, are you going to tell me to die?" Shade opened his index as he continued stalking forward.

"When you say it like that it sounds mean."

Both thralls darted forward at the same time. Shade was impressively quick as he thrust the stakes out. The wooden points easily stabbed into the thralls' chests, as neither tried to defend themselves in the slightest. They had both lashed out with monstrous clawed hands that failed to do anything major to Shade's armored arm or his bones.

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0 Experience

Shade stood upright and pulled the stakes out. A thick, black blood dripped from the ends of the stakes. "I think we are both aware that I am the smartest person in this room."

"There's only one brain in here." Owin hurried across and crouched beside the corpses. Thralls didn't look like the vampire fiend he had fought back in the Ocean, and they definitely didn't look like Taralim. Their eyes were beady and bright, like someone had simply poked holes in their skin. Their mouths hardly worked with how many teeth were inside. There were too many sharp teeth that were too long. Because of this, their jaws were all malformed and their lips were cracked and disgusting.

"Brains aren't everything. Watch this." Shade sat in a chair. Owin watched for a second, then turned back to the bodies.

They didn't have any loot on them.

"Isn't that interesting?"

Owin took a moment before turning. "You sat down."

"No, I used an assassin skill to distract you so I could blend in." Shade sat down again, and Owin suddenly found himself looking at the corpses once again.

"Wait." Owin stood and focused back on Shade. "That's what assassins do?"

"Some of them." Shade was back on his feet with his bloody stakes already striding into the hallway. "You know, they call this a manor, but where are the windows?"

"I think it's a basement." By the time Owin made it to the hall, there was already a thrall flying through the air at Shade's head. The skeleton stabbed wildly with the stakes, poking holes all over that spurted black blood onto the walls.

Owin leapt just high enough to grab the thrall and rip it from Shade's head. It was strong, but its grip faltered as holes were stabbed all over its arms. As soon as there was a clear opening, Shade forced the wooden stake into the mob, which killed it immediately.

They both stood and stared as the corpse seemed to deflate while black blood bubbled out of its various wounds.

"You want to just go home?" Shade asked.

"Yeah. Kind of."

After another few seconds, Shade opened the closest door. A half dozen thralls turned to look at them.

Shade promptly closed the door. "What do you think is down the hall?"

"Vampires."

"Ah." Shade wiped the black blood from the stakes onto the rug that ran down the center of the hall. "Want to go fight something that is less likely to give you some horrific disease?" There was no hesitation as Shade started down the hall. The door they had opened cracked open, revealing a bunch of pinprick eyes.

Owin frowned and hurried after Shade. "Are you saying vampires do horrific damage?"

"What? No." Shade stopped outside another door, opened it, and quickly closed it. "Thrall on the toilet." He opened it again, peeked inside, and slammed it shut. "I just had to make sure."

"What do you mean?"

"The toilet? Oh. Duh. No, uh, vampirism is the disease that turns someone into a vampire, but it doesn't turn heroes into vampires. I, uh, I tried. Seeing that thrall back there brought a deluge of vampire-related memories. Who would have guessed that I would let those disgusting creatures suck on my sweet, sweet flesh?"

"Ew."

Shade turned the corner, tried to sniff a flower in a pot, and continued around the next corner. "In that pursuit of eternal life, I guess I was desperate." He abruptly stopped and turned, splashing black blood onto Owin's face. "Oops." He wiped it off with his olm skin glove.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes. Just fine. It's weird, really. It's like reading a book of someone else's memories. It's an eerily familiar memoir. Is that where the word memoir comes from? Anyway, I can remember all the details, but it doesn't feel like I've experienced them. All this," Shade said as he gestured broadly, splashing more black blood onto the red wallpaper. "All of this feels real. I remember everything from the second I appeared and Myrsvai hit me in the head."

"You're sure they're your memories?"

Shade stopped moving so much. His arms fell limp at his sides. "No. Knowing the gods, they could easily give me fake memories just to make me feel worse. I mean, this guy I keep seeing is the biggest ass hole I've ever met, and I've met Vondaire. According to these memories, I almost died from trying to become immortal." Shade turned away, sighed, and started walking down the hall again.

Owin followed behind, giving the skeleton a moment, while he tried to think of the story Sloswen had told them.

Shade stopped beside the next door.

Owin clenched his jaw as soon as he realized what was happening. He wanted to wait and give Shade a chance to work through it on his own, but the skeleton was just motionless. Owin took a small step forward. "You realized it is your memory, didn't you?"

"I did. Who else would be so narcissistic?" Shade gestured to himself. "There's a reason I'm Cursed."

"No." Owin awkwardly hugged the skeleton's legs. "Stop."

"What are you doing?"

"Hugging you."

"Ew. Stop." Despite his words, Shade put his hands on Owin's head gently. "Why?"

"When I felt like giving up after the Ocean, Ernie had said despair is a deep, never ending pit. I didn't really know what he meant at first." Owin rested his forehead against Shade.

The skeleton stood stiffly. "Do you know what he meant now?"

"I figured it out after a while. He was talking about the feeling in my chest that hadn't gone away since I ran from the Great Forest. Even now, I have it. It's not always noticeable, but it's always there." Owin let go and took a step back so he could look at Shade's face. The skeleton's eye sockets were narrow.

"So, it's better?"

"No. It's not better. It never will be. I left my friend to die and I'll never be okay with that. I've thought about how many different things I could've done. I could've tried to fight or I could've convinced Artivan to run with me. Now that I know about the outside world, I would've done things different. But I can't. We can't change things." Owin took a deep breath.

Shade sighed and placed both hands on his face. He had no eyes to rub or face to scratch. Instead, he just stood there, face in hands, and was silent.

"Shade?"

"I have a full lifetime to remember, and I have yet to see a single thing to make me happy. Is it possible, do you think, to live a life without any joy?"

Owin took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Shade again. "Stop."

"Stop what? Existing? It seems like there wouldn't be a whole lot lost for the world. Did anyone even know I disappeared? Did anyone care?"

"You feel it too," Owin said.

"Feel what?"

Owin pressed his face against Shade. "The pit."

Owin almost jumped at the sudden sensation of hands on his shoulders.

"Do you know why I don't feel it as much anymore? Do you know why I can bear it?" Owin asked.

"No."

Owin squeezed his awkward hug tighter. "Because of you, Shade."

Shade crouched down to Owin's eye level. "Okay." He pulled Owin into a tight hug. "No giving up. If Artivan really is Cursed, then we'll find a way to save him. Together."

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