Chapter 60 – Secrets & Lies (Patreon)

You have gained 25 experience points

XP to next level: 77

Titus stared at the notification before his eyes and smiled. It was a small boost for the amount of pain and suffering his party had endured, given the fact that they’d almost been killed by the Imp. It was a creature that none of them had really been expecting to face, a creature that had needed to be killed in a specific way to win the fight and if Titus hadn’t had his new ability to see the Mana, then things would’ve been very different.

“That was close, huh,” Titus said, turning to his left side to see Jordan and Petra in two beds to his left.

After the fight, none of them had passed out or anything like that, but they’d been silently carried on boards to the hospital where Titus felt like he was becoming too much of a regular visitor for his liking. They’d already been fed a concoction of potions that had immediately brought all their Health, Mana, and Stamina back up to full. Although Titus felt like he was figuratively on top of the world afterward, he couldn’t stop his mind from replaying the events of the fight.

“I think we got lucky out there,” Petra agreed. “I think we need to seriously brush up on the kinds of monsters we can face and what we need to do to fight them.”

Jordan couldn’t meet Titus’ gaze. “I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at his feet. “I should’ve known what was happening. I’m supposed to be the one who knows all of this stuff, but I…”

“You think you should know every single monster out there fights? what they can do and how to beat them?” Titus interrupted his friend. “Because if that’s what you’re about to say, you can save your breath. I doubt even the Hunters know everything about everything.”

“Yeah,” Petra agreed. “Besides, you came to shield me and save my life when that thing was about to barbecue me, so I can let you off, just this one time anyway.”

“Yeah,” Titus said slowly. “We’re going to have to talk about that little choice later, I think.” He said it with a smile though, and Petra snorted. “But from what we’ve seen in the pit and now this? We’re going to need to be ready to fight things that aren’t just strong or fast. We need to be ready to fight things that can cast spells and fly as well because the last two things that have nearly got us have been weak little things that didn’t seem like they’d be too much trouble.”

“Sometimes they’re the most dangerous creatures of all,” a man said as he entered the room, and all three of the friends craned their necks to see who it was that had joined their conversation. They didn’t need to ponder for very long though, as a man in a long black robe with his hood up strode towards them.

“Good morning,” the man said, coming to a halt at the end of Titus’ bed. “That was quite the display out there. I am glad that you all managed to make it through.”

“It was close,” Titus admitted. “I think we got lucky.”

The man frowned at that but didn’t object.

“My name is Kadiz, would you mind if I spoke with you for a while?”

The question was strange and it set alarm bells ringing in Titus’ mind. The irony was of course, that if the man hadn’t said anything then they would’ve conversed quite naturally, but now Titus’ guard was up.

Titus nodded once.

“Titus,” he said. “And these are my friends Jordan and Petra.”

“Hello Titus, hello Jordan and Petra,” Kadiz said. “I watched your fight out there against the little Imp. They are difficult to beat, and I have seen many Contestants your level and above fall to such an opponent. You say you were lucky today, but I wonder if this was truly the case.”

At the mention of his level, Titus immediately tried to see anything he could of the man but was greeted with very stunted information to say the least.

Kadiz: Level ?

There was nothing that Titus learned from the act other than Kadiz’ name, which he of course already knew.

“We were lucky,” Petra agreed. “If Titus’ last attack hadn’t been so effective, then we would’ve all died.”

“Yes, this is also the conclusion that I came to,” Kadiz replied. “But I would like to ask how you knew what to do when you were faced with the situation you were in.”

And then Titus saw it. It was tiny, tinier than anything he’d seen before when he’d seen it, but he was sure. Within Kadiz’ chest, he saw the spec of Mana being used to cast some unseen spell.

But there was nothing he could do to alert his friends of the situation and in truth, he didn’t actually know what was happening. The spark of Mana being used could’ve been anything from giving the man a beard to slowly sapping away at their health pools without their knowledge.

“Why were you watching us?” Titus replied, hoping that his strange question would let Jordan and Petra know something was amiss.

“I mean,” Titus added, “why were you watching us specifically?”

Kadiz smiled.

“I am here to observe and to ask questions,” he replied. “And to give you the full picture, I have been sent by the City Council to do so. Therefore it would be wise to tell me the truth, though there is no reason why this exchange cannot be pleasant. Now again, I would like to ask how you knew what to do when you were faced with the Imp.”

“I told them,” Jordan interrupted. “I recognised that the Imp was cycling affinities, and I’ve seen it before. If you attack a fire affinity with fire, it heals it, but if you use the opposite affinity, then you hurt it worse than anything else. We couldn’t really harm it physically, we couldn’t poison it, and the Imp was spewing fire at us. And with a creature that low level in comparison to the things I’ve seen? There had to be a simple way to win.”

Kadiz turned his head to Jordan and nodded once.

“That was very clever of you, Jordan. You are clearly well-versed in the arena and the monsters therein. But then tell me how you knew the Imp was cycling affinities and was not simply a fire-based monster?”

“Don’t single affinity monsters have their affinity in their name? Like we fought against a Frostbite Spider, so we knew what it was. This would’ve been called a Fire Imp, or something similar if it just had a fire affinity, wouldn’t it?” Jordan asked.

“Sometimes the affinity is within the name, but sometimes it is not,” Kadiz replied. “So I am either to believe that you were lucky, or that you perhaps received additional help with this battle. Perhaps someone told you of the creature before you stepped out into the arena?”

Titus shook his head, now knowing exactly what this man was doing. He’d been sent by the City Council to try to discredit Miss Kane somehow or to see if she had given preferential treatment to any of the Contestants.

“No,” Titus replied. “We didn’t know what we were going up against before the fight, and we haven’t been given any additional information about the fights that could’ve helped us out there. We went into this blind, and we’re lucky to be alive.”

Kadiz nodded again. “Thank you for letting me know; it is most helpful. Now there is one more thing I must ask.” He paused for a second, and the spark of Mana within him pulsed. “Is there anything that the Grandmaster has done to your knowledge that you believe would demonstrate that Miss Kane has an agenda contrary to that of the Council or of the City?”

Titus stopped to think for a moment but to tell the absolute truth, he’d only ever thought that Miss Kane had the best interests of the Arena and the City at heart, and he said as much. Then Jordan and Petra both agreed with matching statements of their own, and Titus watched as Kadiz’ Mana faded out to nothing to show that whatever spell he’d been casting had finished. He could only assume that it was some kind of truth detection spell.

“Then I thank you for your time and congratulate you on your victory,” Kadiz said as he turned away and swiftly left the room, presumably to find more Contestants to question.

“That doesn’t look good,” Jordan said. “If the Council are looking for an excuse to replace Miss Kane then they aren’t just going to drop it. They’re going to keep going until they find something, you know that, right?”

Titus nodded. “I think you’re right. And that Kadiz… he was doing something, casting a spell, I think… I think it was telling him if we were lying or not.”

“Then we really are lucky,” Petra said. “All he had to ask was if there was anything strange with any of us or if Miss Kane has ever asked us to keep a secret for her…”

“Stop!” A voice came from seemingly nowhere, but a second later a huge figure materialised in the room.

The figure that appeared was none other than Darius the Dreaded.

“Don’t say another word,” he said. “You never know who’s listening.”

“Oh my God it’s Darius the Dreaded.” Jordan breathed before he could stop himself. “What are you doing here talking to us?”

Petra closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered.

“I’m here to stop you saying something you shouldn’t to that man, or anyone else for that matter,” Darius said. “For the sake of the Grandmaster and maybe even the future of this Arena.”

“Why? Who is he?” Titus asked.

“He’s been sent here, amongst others, by the City Council to find any reason to remove the Grandmaster from her position. And you three alone could be enough to do that.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Titus asked.

“It means that your secret may already not be as secret as you may have thought, and there is a good reason why you’ve all been told to keep it a secret. I’m telling you that I know things that should not be spoken about while others could be listening.”

Titus recognised what Darius was saying and kept his mouth shut. Instead, he simply pointed to himself, and Darius nodded.

“Ok,” Titus said, knowing that he should shut up about himself for the time being. “But I have two questions for you.”

Darius nodded to allow Titus to continue.

“Why do you guard our door at night, and how come you were invisible when you’re clearly a Warrior, and not a Rogue?”

“Active Camouflage is a fairly low-levelled ability for a Rogue…” Darius began, but Titus held up a hand to stop him.

“I think we deserve to know the truth,” Titus said.

“Alright,” Darius replied. “Fair enough. To answer your first question, it is because of that which is secret. When something threatens the balance between our God and Balance, the children of Chaos will sometimes hone in on the location of the anomaly. I am there to prevent this from happening.”

Titus thought for a moment about what Darius was saying. He’d said it in a fairly obvious way, but if anyone was listening, they probably wouldn’t have understood directly.

“The Spectral Harbinger,” Titus almost whispered, and Darius nodded. “So it wasn’t Henderson at all.”

Darius shook his head.

“Harbingers can be tricky because they can dematerialise and rematerialise. Though this has been addressed recently and should not happen again. They can also spawn wherever they like if the attraction is strong enough.”

“So one can just appear at any time and try to kill us?” Petra asked, following the conversation.

“It is not likely, but neither is it impossible,” Darius said. “There is little study on the creatures, but generally speaking they appear close to the time when the balance is threatened.”

Titus nodded silently.

“And to answer your second question, I need to teach you all something that is not usually taught so early in one’s career as a Contestant. Am I correct in assuming that you don’t know what titles mean?”

Titus and Petra both shook their heads, but Jordan simply stared at the huge Contestant with his mouth open.

“I am called Darius the Dreaded,” Darius said. “It is not a name that I have chosen for myself, but something the God of Balance has decided to bestow upon me. Do you understand what this means?”

Nobody replied.

“It means that there is a reason for the names you see like this.”

“Like Lucius the Bloodied?” Titus asked.

“Ah, exactly,” Darius said with a smile. “Can you tell me what was special about Lucius?”

“He did some kind of blood magic,” Titus said.

“Exactly,” Darius said. “So what… you can make people scared of you?” Petra asked.

“Not exactly…” Darius said and left a long pause before he spoke again. “I am about to tell you something that not many people know, so please, I would prefer you to keep this a secret.”

Titus and Petra both nodded, and Jordan’s eyes widened to saucers.

“I have put a lot of effort into making my appearance that of a Warrior. When I step out onto the arena sands, people think that is what I am, and they make their assumptions about me. But I am in fact, not a Warrior at all. Neither am I a Rogue actually. I am a Spellcaster.”

“No you’re not,” Petra scoffed. “Look at you!”

“Exactly what I am aiming for,” Darius said. “But that is not all. I am a Spellcaster, but my speciality is crafting cursed items, or cursing items in general I should say. That is why the God of Balance chose to dub me as ‘Dreaded’.”

“You curse things,” Petra asked incredulously. “And we’re supposed to just believe that?”

“I can prove it,” Darius said. “There is a cursed item in this very room with us right now. One that I crafted myself. You see, curses aren’t always as they seem. For example, this item was cursed to give its wearer a small boost to their Stamina, whilst hiding its true intent. It was made this way so that the person in possession of the item would not want to remove it once they had used it.”

Titus looked down at the small wooden ring on his hand and held it up. Darius nodded and smiled.

“A simple curse but quite effective. If I close my eyes and concentrate hard enough, I can get a general feeling for where you are. It’s quite accurate actually. And it was something the Grandmaster asked me to do after your handful of near-death experiences. Or perhaps it would be useful if you were taken from this place and nobody knew where you had gone – this is more appropriate now more than ever, I think.”

It was true that if Titus had known the ring was cursed, even if it sounded like it was a good thing then he might not have even put it on in the first place. Now though, he trusted the thing and actually liked the additional Stamina it gave him.

“Other items that I have created allow me to achieve feats like the ability you saw that turned me invisible. It is not dissimilar to the Rogue’s Active Camouflage, but cost me no ability points to learn. And you will see in your futures how valuable ability, and indeed stat points are.”

“So what do we do now?” Titus asked. “Now that we know all of this, we just carry on?”

“That is exactly what you do,” Darius said. “Just perhaps be a little less obvious about what you’re doing when you’re fighting because you never know who might be watching from the shadows.”

Titus nodded. It was going to make things a little more difficult having to second guess their actions, but at least he felt that now he had someone else on their side.