Rise of the Living Forge

Five bolts screamed through the air toward Arwin, but he spun, holding his hands over the back of his neck and his eyes. A bolt slammed into his forearm with a thud, but Arwin ignored it and sprinted over to one of the tables, activating [Scourge] and lifting it into the air with a roar. Gold spilled to the ground, and an idle part of Arwin’s mind noted that the clinks it made as it hit the stone weren’t the right pitch. The gold was fake.

Arwin hurled the table – not at the guild leader, but at the double doors. Even as they started to open and the guildmembers tried to pour in, the table slammed into them and drove them shut.

Not deterred, Arwin strode over to another table and lifted it while the crossbowmen reloaded, tossing the table next to the first. People pounded against the doors, but the tables were heavy – they weren’t going to get through them too soon.

Another arrow struck Arwin’s armor. He grit his teeth as he felt a rush of magical energy siphon from his body. The air around him heated as a molten strand of magic whipped from his armor and hurtled into the darkness. A man let out a pained scream, but it was abruptly silenced.

Arwin turned back to the guild leader, ripping the arrows out of his arms and dropping them to the floor. They’d barely penetrated an inch into his skin, and the wounds were nothing more than painful.

Coils of flame danced across Arwin’s armor, rising up into the air around him as if waiting for another person foolish enough to test its powers.

“That’s two,” Arwin said, stalking toward the man. This was the most important part. Killing a few Apprentice Tiers was well within his and Lillia’s powers, but taking on a Journeyman was not. It was unlikely that he’d be able to so much as injure the guild leader before his people managed to knock the doors down, and then he’d really be in trouble.

Luckily, this was never a fair fight. Like any guild leader running a group of rabble, he’ll try to show his strength off by making them do the hard work. No point wasting energy when you’re in charge.

That just means I have to scare the shit out of this guy. He doesn’t know my exact rank, so as long as he thinks the fight isn’t worth taking, we win.

“Who are you?” the guild leader demanded. “You aren’t a smith. Was this a setup?”

“Does that matter?” Arwin asked. “I’m not asking for much… what was your name again?”

“Briggs.” The guild leader watched Arwin through narrow eyes, ready to call on his own powers and jump into the fight at a moment’s notice. His eyes traced the explosive sword in Arwin’s hands – likely more worried about his belongings than his life. Arwin doubted a Journeyman would get taken out by something like this, but all that mattered was that he had. Briggs’ attention.

“Briggs. Good name,” Arwin said. He tapped the sword on the ground as he walked, hoping that taps didn’t count as strikes. It would have been morbidly funny if he mistakenly blew himself up whilst trying to be threatening. “Well, Briggs, I don’t have any problem with you. What I do have a problem with is people shuffling around on the territory of my guild, leaving threats around like they own the place.”

None of the thieves on the upper level were shooting their crossbows anymore. Briggs looked from Arwin to the barricaded door behind him. People were banging on it, but it was clearly going to hold for at least another minute.

“You’re stealing from us,” Briggs growled. “You really think I’m going to give a key to a dungeon up just like that?”

“You’ve already spent two lives on it,” Arwin said. “How many more is it worth? I can’t say I have a taste for killing, but my friends are different.”

He lifted his gaze to the balcony. Briggs followed it, and the man’s face went as pale as a sheet. Standing beside the railing, the head of a thief gripped in its clawed hands, was a Minor Imp.

The monster’s dull red skin glistened with blood and its yellowed claws nearly wrapped all the way around the head in its hands. Jagged teeth filled its mouth, so long that it couldn’t even close its mouth properly.

“Nine Underlands. You’re allied with demons?” Briggs asked, terror seeping into his voice.

The monster dropped the head and stepped back into the darkness, vanishing from sight as if it had never been there.

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“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” Arwin said. “You might be seeing things, Briggs. I’ve heard that happens to people that are about to die.”

Briggs swallowed heavily. “You’re mad. What fool is stupid enough to make a deal with a demon? Haven’t you heard what they do to men?”

“I’ve seen it firsthand, actually,” Arwin said. “It’s not pretty, Briggs. It’s unfortunate. Something tells me the Hero is too busy to come all the way out to this backwater city and handle a threat of demons from the lips of a tiny little thieves’ guild. But, who knows. I could be wrong. What do you think?”

The two men locked eyes, and Arwin could see the exact moment that Briggs’ self-preservation won over his greed. The man’s lips pressed thin and he jerked his chin. “Fine. Keep the damned key. The dungeon is likely worthless.”

“And the girl?”

“By all means, we don’t want her back.” Briggs spat on the floor. “She’s a curse, and I hope you both get devoured by the monsters you cavort with.”

“It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Arwin said. A shadow flitted through the room and attached itself to his, and this time, Briggs didn’t miss it. The man’s face paled even further. “Stay off my street.”

“Only if you stay off mine,” Briggs said, finding a tiny spark of righteous fury to draw on. “Back me into a corner and you’ll find out just how dangerous my men are.”

Arwin chuckled. “Don’t worry, Briggs. I don’t have any desires for your street. You can keep it. Just don’t let me catch your men in my shop again unless they’re there to buy something.”

The banging on the door grew louder, and the tables started to scrape along the ground as the thieves on the other side slowly forced it open. Arwin nodded toward the exit.

“You might want to stop them.”

Briggs ground his teeth. For a moment, Arwin wondered if he’d pushed too far and if the man was about to snap and order everyone to attack. The moment passed and Briggs snarled in anger.

“Stop!” Briggs roared. “Go back to your damn stations. Everything is fine.”

The grinding stopped. Confused murmurs rang out on the other side of the door.

“I told you to leave!” Briggs yelled again. “Get back to work!”

Footfalls echoed out as the thieves broke rank and left. Arwin didn’t bother saying anything else to Briggs. There was no point pushing his luck any further. He grabbed the first table with one hand, using [Scourge] to toss it to the side.

The second table followed after it, and Arwin pulled the doors open. He strode out, ignoring the wide-eyed stares of all the thieves as he left the building. Their gazes bore into his back as he continued out into the street, following him all the way until he turned a corner in the alley and was entirely out of view.

Even still, Arwin didn’t allow himself to relax for another ten minutes. He followed the alleyways to the best of his memory, then finally came to a stop as he saw two familiar forms. Lillia and Reya sat on a pair of barrels, at the end of the alley.

The shadow at Arwin’s feet broke away the moment he saw Lillia, flitting across the ground and entering her own shadow. The alley was so dark that Arwin only noticed because he’d grown used to watching the shadows while he fought, and Reya missed it entirely.

“Arwin! You’re back! Did it work?” Reya asked nervously, glancing around the alley. “Are the thieves after you?”

“I doubt I would have made it out of there if it hadn’t worked,” Arwin said with a dry laugh. He followed Reya’s concerned gaze to his bleeding arms and waved her away. “Relax. I’m fine.”

“It looks like you got shot. A lot.”

“I did,” Arwin said. “I’m not exactly walking around in full plate here.”

Though I really should be.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Lillia said, shaking her head in disbelief. “You really just strolled in there and they listened to you?”

“Having certain threats in the shadows can go a long way,” Arwin said. Now that it was all done, he wasn’t so sure how he felt about feeding a Minor Imp a meal of fellow humans. It was probably the only reason he’d managed to pull this off, though. “People are terrified of – well, you know. Really, really scared.”

He’d been one, at one point. Demons had been something reviled – and something feared. They were among the most despicable monsters, taking delight in their slaughter. At least, that was what Arwin had learned, and it was likely what just about everyone believed. Now, he wasn’t sure what he believed.

Fortunately, it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that everyone else was just as scared of demons as he’d used to be. That had been what their entire plan had hinged on.

When Arwin had asked Lillia what abilities she’d retained, he’d expected it to be something to do with the darkness based on how her tavern felt, but he’d been initially thrilled to hear she could still summon a Minor Imp. The monsters were nasty little buggers that only obeyed their masters, and they had the ability to hide in shadows. Most people didn’t know the capabilities of the average demon, though.

A wry smile crossed Arwin’s face, but he wasn’t sure if it was born of bitter amusement or relief. He’d killed more Imps than he could count, and now he’d worked together with one to kill.

“How many of those things do you have to work with?” Arwin asked.

“Why do you ask?” Lillia asked, sending Arwin a suspicious frown.

“Just curious,” Arwin said, shaking his head. They all set off down the alley, heading back toward their run-down street. He’d have more than enough time to come to terms with what he’d done later.

Like it or not, I’m not the man I used to be. I can’t be.

Realizing that he’d started to lag behind the others, Arwin increased his pace to catch back up with them. The thieves guild was dealt with – for the time being – and that meant he had time to get back to doing what was important.

I need to get stronger.