The longer Wulf spent in the lift-pod, the faster his heart began racing. It stopped at almost every floor, with the operator—a young wind-aspect Ranger—locking the device, opening the doors, and allowing the people out, before activating a Skill and lifting them up. About halfway through, he had to stop and drink a vial of mana-water.
"I hope he doesn't have to do this all day…" Wulf whispered to Kalee.
"I think it's just the morning rush," she replied.
"Ah, that'd make sense," he said softly. "I never had a guild job." There were too many people around to say it aloud, but inwardly, he thought, In this life or the last.
He shouldn't have been nervous about this, but it wasn't exactly nerves about getting caught. They had contingencies. It was his struggle to mask himself.
In his practice, it hadn't been an issue. Just breathe deeply, and everything would be fine. But in his practice, he hadn't been stuffed into a lift-pod with twenty other people, wearing a uniform doused in heavy perfume and surrounded by people who had done the same.
He hadn't even chosen to scent this uniform. It'd just come that way—the risks of stealing it from someone, he supposed.
But slowly, the crowd in the lift-pod dwindled, until finally, they were making two-storey jumps, then three storey and four storey.
Finally, when they reached the sixtieth level, the pod stopped. Wulf pushed the doors open and stepped out, and Kalee followed. They whispered their thanks to the Ranger, then kept moving.
Here, the hallways were bland. Flagstone floors, candle sconces at every intersection, and hundreds of doors in the cobblestone walls. It was like a very, very cheap dungeon.
On this level, most of the floor was deserted—or everyone was already in their office. No cubicles, and no labourers like Wulf had been expecting.
Which made it all the more odd when an Iron-tier Ascendant stepped out of the lift-pod behind them.
He followed them as they walked through the halls, and Wulf didn't even dare whisper to Kalee to ask if she knew where the emergency stairs would be. He also sneezed a few times, with enough force to make the candles around him shudder. Hopefully, the man following them wouldn't notice.
Finally, after rounding a few corners, the man shouted, "Hey, you two! What are you doing up here?"
Wulf stopped and turned around, and so did Kalee.
"There's no reason two new hires would be on the sixtieth floor," the man continued. "These are the enclosure tank control rooms."
Wulf tilted his head and tried, "Apologies, sir. We didn't know. We'll just take the stairs back down—"
"Not good enough. What are you doing here?"
"We were sent to deliver a message to Mr. Unnelman," Kalee tried.
"I don't know him," the man said. "And I work on this floor."
"He's new here?" Wulf suggested.
"Yeah, right. Let's see some identification. Come here."
Wulf fished through his pocket, looking for the rune-code parchment slip, then showed it to the man. "Look, we're supposed to be here."
"No, your guild identification slip, not your rune code."
He and Kalee sifted through their pockets, but both of them turned up nothing. Kalee said, "I, uh, I think we forgot them."
"I'm bringing you down to the Enforcers," the man said. "Come on, with me, before this gets ugly. Don't make me force you."
"Ah, screw this," Wulf muttered. For a moment, he lifted the mask off his core. The man might not have perfect senses, but he was old enough that he'd be able to pick up general swells of arcane pressure. Like what Wulf had felt in the presence of the leader of the demon spirits.
"Wha…" the man trailed off. His eyes went wide, and an expression of fright covered his face. "You—"
Before he could finish, Kalee darted behind him and kicked the back of his head, sending him flying into the wall. He hit the stone and collapsed. Though he was an Iron, he couldn't have had too many Marks.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Quickly, they masked themselves again, then found a janitor's closet and dragged the man inside it, sealing him away.
"Someone's going to find that eventually," Wulf whispered. "We need to get moving."
After a few more twists of the hallway, they found a set of heavy doors inlaid into the wall, and they pushed them open. The emergency stairwell.
"Now time to climb," Wulf said.
It wasn't nearly as difficult as it sounded. Being Silvers, they leapt from landing to landing, barely touching the steps at all, until they arrived at the seventy-third level. A hallway ran in a ring around the outside of the floor, which wasn't nearly as large, given how the tower narrowed near its top.
The hallways here weren't empty either. High-level workers in white coats marched around, holding clipboards or other constructs that Wulf couldn't identify. Silver- and Gold-tier Ascendants stood guard at the intersections, arms folding across their chests. Most carried a weapon of some sort on their back or at their hip, and a few had animals perching on their shoulders.
They cast off the inexperienced employee personas and walked like they had purpose. Kalee picked up an envelope from a ledge and held it like she was on a delivery, and no one bothered them.
"Do you sense anything?" Kalee asked quietly. "Any spirits?"
"Nothing," Wulf replied. "That's probably—" He cut himself off as they passed a guard. "That's probably for the best. It means whatever they're doing to contain the spirits is working. It means they're still ready for us to take."
They reached a bank of inward facing windows that looked down over an atrium at the center of the building. It was only a few storeys tall, and a massive column of woven tubes and pipes filled the center, like someone had tried to grow a metal tree in the core of the building. That had to be where the spirits were.
The pipes pumped in cooling seawater, swirled around, then eventually, hissed out the top as steam.
Walkways ran around the edge of the entire device, and there were only a few entryways to the inner rooms—whatever was tucked inside the column. There was a walkway on the seventy-third level, which led to an open doorway, but the walkway was guarded. On this side, there were plenty of workers watching, and two Silver-tier ascendants stood on the other side, guarding the door.
Not to mention, there were three young men in formal tunics and bright purple sashes, all wearing a bright Blacksmith's Guild crest, who another group of Ascendants and workers escorted around. They were prospective spirit-buyers who'd come looking for powerful resources.
Wulf inhaled slowly and glanced at Kalee. "We need to get over there."
"Time for the distraction?" she whispered.
He nodded, then tapped the communications construct. "Irmond, you're still there?"
"Wulf? Oh, yes, I am. What happened? I heard a bit of a scuffle."
"We're fine," Wulf replied. But can you tell Seith that we need the distraction, now? We're in position."
"Alright! You got it. One distraction, coming up."
Wulf winced when the sound of rushing wind and flapping wings roared through the construct. After a few seconds, it stopped, and Irmond said, "Seith, they're in position. You have the devices ready?"
"The pulsers?" Seith's distant voice echoed through the communications construct. "Yeah, they should be good to go."
The 'pulsers' were a device that she and Wulf had worked on. Each contained a small chunk of order-filled xerion, and a small chunk of chaos-filled xerion. When combined, they'd create an explosion.
"Detonate them," Wulf whispered.
He and Kalee stepped back out into the center of the hallway and continued walking normally. A distant boom rumbled through the building, making the foundations shudder and the upper floors quake. Wulf didn't see the explosion himself, and he'd never gotten a chance to test the pulsers, but the theory worked.
That was a good sign.
"It worked!" Seith exclaimed. "I dunno if you heard, but it worked!"
"We heard," Kalee whispered.
They stepped to the edge of the hallway, allowing a pair of of Ascendants to rush past. To keep their cover, Wulf asked someone, "What happened?" He didn't get a response. The worker just kept running.
"Pretend to be slightly dazed," Wulf hissed, and he and Kalee both walked down the hallway, eyes wide, moving quickly. People ran in the opposite direction, but they didn't pay them any attention. A bell began tolling, and someone sounded an alarm horn.
"They'll be sealing the vault any time," Kalee said.
"These potions will only last thirty seconds," replied, then unveiled a vial with a perfectly clear liquid in it. It gave an iridescent shimmer when the light hit it just right. An invisibility potion, High-Gold. It'd keep everything hidden, including their clothes, gear, and weapons, as long as the Field registered it as theirs.
They ducked into an alcove, and Wulf used [Arm of the Alchemist] to pull it out of the vial. He splashed it over both of their heads, and they went invisible—their old clothes, their storage pendants with their equipment, everything they needed in order to escape.
Everything except the stolen uniforms.
"Take them off, quick!" Kalee whispered. "Before someone sees!"
They ripped off their stolen uniforms and tucked them into a corner, then ran out into the hallway, keeping themselves masked. The invisibility potions should've helped with that, but they couldn't be too cautious. Sticking to the edge of the hallway, they crossed the last small distance to the vault, then stepped out onto the walkway.
The vault door was closing. The two Ascendant guards pulled the gate shut.
"Run," Wulf whispered, hoping Kalee was still there.
He sprinted down the walkway, keeping his footsteps light, then turned sideways to fit through the door. It sealed behind him with a heavy boom.
"Kalee?" he breathed. "Are you still there?"
"I'm here." Her voice came from behind him.
"Good. Let's go find those spirits."
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.