Advent of Eternity - Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Knell rested his head against the wooden wall, lost in his meditation. It had been a little under an hour since Stix left, and there was still no sign of her return. Cyll chewed on a handful of old hay, watching his captain with bored eyes.

“Think she got caught?” Cyll asked, breaking Knell’s concentration.

“It’s possible,” Knell replied, opening his eyes. “I was going to try to give her the whole hour, but that may not be wise. We should probably find her.”

“You’re going to go out?” Cyll raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’ve got some power you’ve yet to show me, I don’t think there’s much of a chance of you getting very far.”

“I haven’t shown all my cards yet,” Knell said. He pulled himself up to his feet with his staff. “But I don’t have any way to disguise myself in a fashion that would fool someone actively looking for me.”

“Then it’s up to me,” Cyll said with a grumble. “I hope there are a lot of tall pirates.”

“Just do something with that beard. If it wasn’t so long you’d be a dozen times less recognizable.”

Cyll harrumphed. “I’ll be back with news and I’ll try to avoid getting spotted by too many people.”

“I’ll be here,” Knell said. Cyll nodded and stepped outside. Knell watched him through the bottom of the window, then shook his head with a sigh. He gathered the cleanest hay he could find to make a makeshift chair and sat down in it, starting to meditate once more.

Several minutes passed before his peace was broken by angry muttering just a short distance away from his barn. Knell’s eyes narrowed and stopped, standing to peer the window. Four large men encircled a small figure at the entrance of an alley.

He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but none of them were particularly happy. One stepped forward, pushing the small figure back against the wall and drawing a blade. Knell gritted his teeth as their argument grew louder.

If it continued to progress, it might draw more attention to the alley, which was the last thing he needed. Relocating while Cyll and Stix were out would make finding them again exceedingly difficult.

Suppressing his anger, Knell started his mental clock. He was about to waste even more time on this godsforsaken outpost.

Knell took his staff and swept out the door, twisting it apart just enough to reveal the blade hidden within its center. He moved as confidently as his injured leg would allow toward the group, muting his footfalls.

“When we tell you to take your clothes off, you don’t ask why,” the man holding the knife growled, placing the blade against the small figure’s throat. “You ask if we want you to dance while you’re doing it.”

The other three men laughed – much like the grunting of pigs, Knell mused. He could practically feel the stupidity oozing off the group, and he could certainly smell it. The rest of his staff’s blade came free of its sheathe and his eyes lit a dim yellow.

He drew up behind the closest man, a large pirate who smelled of old beer and week old sweat. The pirate started to turn as he finally noticed Knell’s approach, but it was too late to stop the blade from slipping past his ribcage and into his heart. The man let out a startled wheeze and staggered. His friends turned, the first only reacting fast enough to see the spray of his own blood as Knell opened his throat.

“What the – Brady!” another one of the pirates lunged at Knell, blue fire igniting along his body. “You son of a bitch, I’ll rip your throat out through your ass.”

Knell staggered to the side, narrowly avoiding the larger man’s hands. He stumbled as he accidentally put weight on his bad leg, nearly falling in the process. With a snarl, Knell turned his trip into a spin, slashing the flaming pirate across his face.

The man snarled in rage and dove at Knell. Yellow light flooded from his eyes as Knell took a step back and fell, wedging the base of his staff against the ground. At the same time, green magic bolted from his fingers. The pirate’s eyes widened as his body slowed midair, locking him in place for just an instant.

An instant was all it took. Knell stepped to safety and drove his staff blade up through the larger man’s heart.

Knell grunted, twisting his body and throwing the larger man to the side as Slow’s effect wore off on him. The final pirate took a step back, his eyes darting along the corpses of his companions. He shoved the short figure toward Knell and they tripped over their own feet, face planting in the ground before him.

“Sixteen Seas, take her!” he stammered. “Gods, you didn’t have to kill them. We would have let you have a turn, you crazy bastard.”

His eyes caught Knell’s malformed leg and greed flashed within them. He turned, starting to run, and Knell launched his spear at the pirate’s back. Yellow light lit the alley once more. When it faded, the last pirate slumped to the ground, Knell’s staff lodged in his throat.

Knell groaned, pushing himself against the wall of the alley and fighting to rise. Pain radiated up his leg in violent throbs, threatening to knock him out.

“That was a mistake,” he muttered, limping over to the fallen pirate’s body and yanking his staff free from the man. Twenty seconds. He flicked the blood off, then sheathed the blade and leaned on it with a relieved sigh. Magical energy rose up from the men he’d killed and funneled into him.

The gods have granted you experience for besting your foe.

You have defeated an entity more powerful than you. Experience Gained. Your Level has been adjusted accordingly.

Name: Knell Twist [Age: 0]

Path: Scion [Rank Zero]

Magical Energy Level: 11

Attunement A: Foresight of the Vulture

Attunement B: Empty

Attunement C: Empty

Attunement D: Empty

Attunement E: Empty

Bloodline: Eternal Body [Epic]– Time magic bends around you, modifying your lifespan and granting you resistance to spatial magics.

Path: Epoch

Magical Energy Level: 4

Abilities:

Mental Clock – Use time magic to keep time or set an alarm audible only to you.

Slow – Impede the movement of a single creature by warping the time around them for a brief instant.

He’d only gained another level in Epoch, but the rate that the Path was leveling at was incredible. Knell made a note to seek out as many powerful foes as possible.

“Hey there,” The girl the pirates had been harassing stood right behind him, no more than a hair’s breadth away. Her face was tanned from years under the sun, but she barely even looked his age. Even though she had to look up to meet his gaze, the young woman didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. Knell cursed and took a step back.

“Haven’t you heard of personal space?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” the girl said, reaching out and pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you! You’re my savior.”

Knell shoved her away, prepared to dodge a dagger in his gut, but she did nothing other than give him a wide, sparking grin. “Happy?”

“No. Don’t touch me. I was not asking for a hug.”

“Everyone loves hugs,” the girl said, pouting at him. “Especially men. Oh, would you prefer if I took my clothes off?”

“Do it and I’ll spear you,” Knell said with a weary sigh, hoping he wasn’t about to lose even more time. “I have absolutely no desire to see you naked. In fact, I’d appreciate if you turned around and walked away. Forget we ever met and you can consider us even.”

“But how could I turn my back on my savior?” the girl asked, fluttering her eyelashes and clasping her hands before her. “Or am I just not your type?”

“I regret this already. I’m not a fool, I can tell you’re a pirate. If I just took your prey or something, apologies. They were about to cause a commotion in my alley.”

Her mouth twitched in a grin – the first honest one she’d given Knell. “You did ruin my fun, but it was so honorable. It’s pretty cute. Why’s everyone out looking for you?”

“And now we’ve got a problem,” Knell said, preparing to unsheathe his staff again. “I can’t be leaving witnesses right now – unless you’d be willing to let me knock you out? I do try to avoid killing when I can.”

The girl glanced at the corpses surrounding them. “Sure you do.”

“Try was the operative term there. Are you going to make me choose for you?”

“I’ve got a better solution,” the girl said cheerfully. “I’ll just tag along with you for now. I couldn’t possibly let my savior leave without properly thanking him. It would go against my moral code.”

Knell’s eye twitched. “No.”

“Who said I was giving you choice, pretty boy? I’m Hau, by the way. Come on, now. You don’t want to get caught.”

She winked and spun, traipsing out of the alley and heading straight into the barn. Knell stared at her in disbelief, but snapped himself out of it and followed after her a moment later.

“Oooh, you even made a chair for me,” Hau said, flopping down in the makeshift chair Knell had formed for himself. “You’re really too kind. What did I do to deserve you?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Knell said, wondering if he could stab the girl without getting blood on his hay. Something about her manner set his hair on end, and he wasn’t one to ignore his gut. “I sincerely hope you don’t plan on sticking around long.”

“Oh, not long at all,” Hau replied. “I just figured I’d keep you company for a little in exchange for saving my life. Lots of people would kill for this opportunity, you know.”

“I think I did,” Knell said dryly.

“Oh, so you did,” Hau agreed. Outside the barn, someone stumbled across the bodies on the alley and let out a startled curse. They quickly hurried away, muttering curses about spoiling their shoes under their breath.