Chapter 1.

The darkness enveloped him as he slowly crept through the streets of Arkala. The fog of the morning, just starting to swirl, almost embraced him like a well-fitted cloak. Lejin, no stranger to the dark, was crouched in a corner of the cobblestone pillars that lined the alleyways, stolen fisherman pike hook in hand, at the ready. This pike hook, though, was modified as it was no longer attached to the pole but to a large rope. 

“Minutes…” I said as I peered towards the corner of the alleyway, my breath soft and my eyes sharp. 

Three feet away a rat scurried around a corner trying to go unnoticed. Lejin watched the rat, as it stopped to nibble on some spec of food on the ground, he then noticed the mechanical nature of the rat, “Curious..” he thought, “What artificer would take the time to build a mechanical rat? What was its inventors’ purpose? Sure, a horse or a guard dog, but a rat?”

 I stopped and took a breath. 

I need to focus, this is an important contract from the Raegor cartel and I’m not about to fail. Failure wasn’t optional anyway I thought, they would either let me rot in prison or worse string me up for the Scavs. I snapped out of it, “There it is..” I mumbled under my breath, so slight it was inaudible to the human ear though the rat heard me and scurried off. 

The carriage slowly wheeled past me as I drew out my hook and fixed it to the wheel as it spun by. Darting across the back of the carriage after fixing the hook to the wheel, I quickly slid past the rear of the carriage, my cloak the only thing breaking the wind pushing past me. As I got to the other side, the carriage wheel gave way. The carriage slid to one side as the wheel blew apart dropping to its axle. It was at this moment that I pulled a blade from my boot and kneeled behind the unbroken rear corner of the carriage. The rider in the automated carriage stepped out and into the dimly lit alley. He was a rather large man, with a very imposing stature. Dressed in a fancy suit and jacket, and a very ridiculous-looking red velvet bow tie, the man stood there very calmly smoking a pipe and taking in his surroundings. The man took two steps towards the back of the carriage, stepped back one, and looked down at the broken wheel. “Well this won’t do,” he said as he stepped back towards the carriage door. I crept towards the corner of the carriage making no audible sounds with a dagger swept backward in my right hand, my left hand empty grasping the top of the carriage to get an advantageous pull, my intention to launch myself towards the man in one swift movement. The man lifted his head as if alerted by some sound. “He couldn’t have heard me!” I thought as I pulled my hand back off of the carriage, being careful not to make a sound. The man fiddled with his belt and returned to the cab of the carriage, seemingly for a repair kit. I made my move, quickly and quietly towards the carriage door, ready to ambush. 

I heard a voice coming from the carriage, meek yet determined: “I know you’re out there! You can come in”, the voice paused for a moment and continued “my man will have a weapon but you will not be harmed unless you make a move on us”. he said with a sly sound that only convinced me he was serious.

Myself, confused on how they knew I was there, weighed my options realizing there were only two, I could take my chances in the waning darkness, more likely to be seen in the newly lit streets of the city, or I could go in and take my chances with whomever was in the carriage. Both of these options were undesirable outcomes for my mission, but maybe it could be salvaged by trying to cut in or cut-out whoever’s voice this was. “I’m coming in,” I said as I poked my head through the carriage door.  

I saw the man that I had previously seen outside the carriage carefully pointing a small crossbow my way. The man spoke before I could in a very deep but calm voice “Please place your dagger on the floor”. I, knowing this wasn’t a request but a demand, followed the instruction begrudgingly. The man on the right was a small fellow with a more casual look to himself. While he did have a suit on, he had no tie on and his shirt was unbuttoned a bit hair showing on his chest. He spoke, “You need not worry, we mean no ill will towards you, my man is only pointing his weapon at you because we respect you. We must be vigilant in our cause and our cause does not continue while in a pool of our own blood. The skills you show with a blade are beyond that of a normal man, and your ability in subterfuge is second to none.”

I nodded my head in approval though not fully nodding as to keep my eyes on the man with the crossbow. “This may be possible to salvage,” I thought as I started to speak. “How did you detect me, and how did you know I would be here?”. 

“To explain that, I must introduce myself and my man here, we are servants of the holy order of Simitri, This is Commander Saurgal, he is a Paladin of Simitri, and I am Kragal the orders lead Artificer, I infuse machines with the light, and while I can create holy magic, I am especially good with mechanical creatures.” 

“The rat was a good touch” I said as I scanned the cabin of the carriage, “No real room to have an advantage here, I would need to get them out of the carriage, and then there was the problem of the crossbow pointed at me.” I thought as a smile pursed his lips. “The rat,” he said calmly.

“Very perceptive indeed, my rat isn’t very practical when it comes to household uses, but it tends to lend itself to the covert operations Saurgal and I often have to perform,” said Kragal. 

Starting to lose interest in this social aspect of this conversation, I  suddenly and abruptly asked, “So what exactly do you want from me? You obviously know my intentions, you know what I am willing to do for it, and yet you stand in my way.”

“Ah, straight to the point I see, okay. The holy order needs you to do a job for us, the relic you are tasked with stealing will be freely given, it is of no consequence to us, we will merely consider it payment for service rendered?’ said Kragal.

“Service rendered?” I said. Trying not to lose the calmness in my voice, giving the edge to the small man.

Saurgal spoke “We need someone of your talents to infiltrate..”, “Not yet sir. Kragal interrupted, “We will speak on the details at a later time, what we need from you is an answer!” 

“So let me get this straight, you want me to do a job for you, and this job requires a very specific set of skills, in which I possess, you can’t tell me what it is, and I imagine it’s dangerous, because who sneaks into a nursery right?” I said..

“Perceptive as ever, see Saurgal, I told you we had the right man for the job.” Kragal said while jabbing the larger fellow in the ribs playfully. “Humph!” Saurgal let out a playful yet skeptical laugh, while laying down his crossbow.

“This is my chance!” thought Lejin, he is unarmed and I don’t need a weapon to dispatch these two.”

I sprang forward fist moving towards the larger man’s face at an alarming speed, my eyes closed and teeth gritted. I made contact, enough I thought that I heard bones crack. I drew my hand back and instantly felt the pain. My hand was throbbing and to my surprise the two men were laughing at me. 

“That sir was fantastic, I never saw it coming, and to my surprise there it was!” Saurgal said. “You were definitely the right choice!” Kragal said in amazement. “Let me tend to that.”

Instantly Lejins hand felt better, not just his hand but his whole body. 

“Brute force is not your style master Lejin, you are cunning and stealthy, and while your hand may be quick, my mind is quicker. Had you been an instant sooner, you would have beaten my holy barrier and it would have been my face that was broken instead of your hand, but alas that is not the outcome of this story.” said Saurgal. 

I pondered this for a moment, I had not really ever known anything of magic other than what I had been told. Magic wasn’t real in this world, where trickery was sleight of hand or subterfuge. This type of magic was physical in nature, when I had hit the barrier with my fist, I had felt the pushback, as if hitting the barrier was taking my force and multiplying it back to me, and the warmth I now felt after receiving the the light from the Artificer was undeniably the most powerful thing I had ever felt. “How did you..?”

“Parlor tricks my boy, while you dabble in the shadow arts, I dabble in the art of the light. My abilities are really not meant for human use, but yours was a very minor injury.”

“So if I agree to this, what then?” I asked. “What’s in it for me?” 

“You my boy get the relic!”, “Isn’t that your endgame here?” Kragal pursed his face in a smile and added “and you get to stay out of prison!”

This did sound like a good bargain from my perspective, but then again I would be beholden to a secret order of light that I had no interest in. Thinking about it for a few seconds and realizing I had no real choice, the relic was required if I preferred the living to the unliving, and even if I wasn’t killed by the Reagor cartel, there was no escaping Saurgal as his powers were too strong to overcome and I would surely end up in prison. “I guess we have a deal!” I said sarcastically and enthusiastically.