Advent Eternal (Chapter 2)

Lejin, with the newly acquired artifact, worked his way through the sewers, navigating the dark as though it was a swift stroll through the streets of Arkala. Lejin, having grown up in the dark underworld of the sewers of Arkala, was at home with the darkness, its anonymity and privacy lent itself to his lifestyle. The sewers were an integral part of the city, to relieve the seaside city of excess drainage. While this was its main purpose for the city above, its primary purpose for Lejin was its refuge from the city as well as a well designed entry and exit point for a heist. It was damp and dark, but it was home. 

Lejin’s lair was a large room set up studio style with a kitchen area in the front left corner closest to the door, a small bed in the front right corner, and the rest of the space was used for planning and training. A table in the center of the room acted as a planning area for heists and the back half of the room was built for training, a few training dummies, and a wall with a few pieces of gear on the rack.

Sitting at the table, Lejin pulled the artifact from his pack and inspected it. The artifact, a small statue made of some sort of stone that seemed to have a milky marble look to it, only a few inches tall and about as big around as the handle of the average dagger. As he looked at the statuette he thought back to the situation that had led to his acquiring the artifact. What could the Order of Simitri want with him he thought. His skillset didn’t seem to be the type a secret holy order would need but he had the artifact and agreeing to the deal had been the only real option he had. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Lejin saw what seemed to be a shadow move in the corner. Having spent most of his life in the dark, his eyes were uniquely adept to the most subtle movements, and this one was one of the most subtle ones he had ever seen. It moved so slow it was almost imperceptible, like staring at an object too long and beginning to believe it is moving even though it was stationary. It slowly started to form into a shape, first from a blob of nothing to an oval and finally filled itself out as a very slender humanoid figure. Not wanting to alert the shade that he had seen the shadowy figure form, Lejin looked up and away towards the ceiling tracking the movements of the shade from the corner of his eyes. Lejin sprang to his feet and leapt through the air to where the shade was in the corner, his blade in his hand so fast the naked eye of a normal person would never have seen it, and it currently resided at what should have been the throat of the shadowy figure, but his blade made a spark against the wall as it scraped it. From behind he heard a voice laughing, not quite maniacal but not quite hysterical either. He looked to the chair that he had been sitting at and saw the silhouette of a man, slender build, long hair and clothing that seemed so dark it could be mistaken as darkness itself. Lejin stared at the man in amazement, not many people were capable of escaping his blade, and the speed in which the man had done it was even more impressive, if not terrifying. Knowing that his speed was no match for the man, he confidently put his blade away and walked towards the kitchen turning his back to the man. 

“Wise choice” the voice said with a faint hint of pride, Lejin’s back still turned towards the stranger, who was now playing with the object that he left behind on the table. 

“It’s of no real value” Lejin said “just a trinket I lifted from the marketplace”. 

“Odd that you say that, because I was under the impression that it was the vessel that the order of Simitri had trapped me in for these many years” said the stranger. Lejin turning slowly towards the man with a cup of Thistle tea in his hand, took a sip from the mug. Putting down the cup on the counter and slightly leaning back on the counter, Lejin pondered the statement. It was plausible, the Order of Simitri had given him the statuette, and a vast criminal organization had sought Lejin to steal the artifact for them. The fact that the statuette somehow conjured a shadow figure that could manifest itself as a being did track. 

“This day is getting stranger by the minute,” Lejin said under his breath. “So what are you, a genie?” Lejin asked with a sarcastic tone. “I’m going to be perfectly honest, if you’re granting wishes, I’d really like to be surrounded by piles of treasures, if that’s something you can muster,” again with the sarcasm. 

“Not quite, I really just came out to determine the type of being that now possessed my vessel, ” the shade said with a bit of disdain. “I figured the possessor of my vessel would be another tyrannical order such as the Order of Sim, but imagine my surprise when I come out to take a peek and it’s just little old you”. 

“Little old me”? “Who exactly are you, Lejin  said as he picked up his mug and took another sip of the Thistle tea.

“The real question, boy, is who are you, and why did the Order of Sim just hand me over to you?”

“My name is of no concern, and my business is my own, you are just a transaction, a means to an end, you are of no real consequence to me as long as you cooperate.” Said Lejin with a very confident voice. Not quite demanding, but bordering that of a person who meant business with a person who could really care less.

“Well, I have many names, but the one you most likely know me as is Froken, I imagine with the knowledge of my name you can surmise quickly what I am” Froken said with a sly smile.

“Gonna be honest with you chief, never heard of ya” Lejin said. “Should I have?”

“Really?” Froken asked, almost as surprised as Lejin was to have a shadow conjuration in his home. “You know nothing of the gods, I may be a lesser god but I was pretty sure I was the last one, and that I was pretty well known for a lesser god” Froken said with a bit of disappointment. “How long have I been in there?” He said with a rather concerned look.

“No idea chief but you’ll have to ask the next guy, my answers are as limited as my interest, dwindling to nothing the more the time goes by.” Said Lejin.

“Normally I’d have a snarky quip to throw back at you, but I can’t get past the feeling that I know you” Froken said. “There is something so familiar about you”.

Lejin heard something that he could only figure was a language he did not speak and the man started to disintegrate , slowly dissolving to a very dark smoke like substance, though not of this world, almost as if a vale opened to another realm and the man faded out of existence. “This job can’t be over quick enough” he said as he walked over to the table, grabbing the statuette. He stared at it for a few moments before setting it back down on the table and grabbing a pot off the rack above the stove and putting it over the statuette, as if the pot would stop the shadowy man from returning and went to bed.