Chương 4: Henry.

Nythera woke with a start, breathing heavily. Her eyes snapped to the window, light streamed in. Where are the inquisitors, I have got to move, now! Will is going to be pissed that I slept in She grabbed for her bag and her supplies and …. Huh There was no bag, nor supplies, she lay in a comfortable bed…. Oh, oh, Will is dead. There are no inquisitors, and I'm in Grandport... The events of before came rushing back to her. It will take some time to get used to this… New state, to not being constantly pursued.

Nythera got up and went down the hallway to find the bathroom and got ready as best as she could… given she had almost nothing to her name. She could smell breakfast, the scent wafting up from below. She came face to face with the old lady from the other day on the stairs "Mornin' to ya! I fetched ya some right tasty breakfast, so dig in! Lance'll be 'round to pick ya up in 'bout an hour or so." This paper fortress makes for a poor place to dine.

Nythera took the plate, which had scrambled eggs and bacon and went back up to her room. This is a good chance to review my status, as good as any I'll get, anyways. Nythera flicked up part of her status. Titles: Little Leviathan, Rebel-Spark, Lucky Shrimp Strength - 14 Dexterity - 16 Constitution - 25 Endurance - 16 Intelligence - 16 Wisdom - 15 Charisma - 15 Flow Quality - 11 Flux Control - 11 Resonance - 8 Attunement - 5 Wow, this is… something, I have over double the stats I should for being an unclassed!

And those flux stats are way higher than typical. She voraciously devoured an egg. Still can't fight an inquisitor though, those guys were what? Strata three? Four? Based on what Will taught me, that means something like four hundred levels worth of stats and several class ascensions. If I can actually find the domain core here before I turn twenty…. I have a real shot at an authority class and possibly another title. Another egg disappeared into her ever-consuming maw.

Authority, surely an advanced stat like that would help me in the fight against Tianshiang. Knock Knock"Hello missy, time to get up and get busy, we got to figure out your situation this morning so I can get back to work." Lance's voice came through the door.

"And where do you plan on taking me? I am not going to work on a farm." she said. Even if they don't know how, I'll need to find a way back to Vathrial, on my own if I have to.

"Dont worry missy, I found someone willing to take you upriver, an old pal of mine, although I don't recommend it, I won't stop you, just making sure you go with someone responsible." Lance sighed.

"You'll need to work for your passage."

"Very well" Nythera got up out of bed and exited the room, following Lance downstairs.

"Thank you ma'am, the food was delicious" Nythera bowed her head slightly.

"Oh you don't worry a thing, Lance will take good care of you now, do come back sometime, wontcha?" Her head did not move from the stack of paper before her. Lance led her through the waking Grandport as the sun broke the horizon. People stirred throughout the town"Hey there, good morning Florence" "Top of the mornin' to ya Ed" and the like were repeated more times than Nythera could remember. The smell of the sea permeated the entire town, the salty air causing her to rankle her nose.

The scent got stronger and stronger as they approached the coast.

"This 'ere is our fine river docks, we keep them separate from the sea docks" Lance swept his arms with grandeur. Lance made for the furthest dock upriver, planks groaning under the weight. He navigated the numerous holes like a well-seasoned veteran, not breaking stride while Nythera was forced to check every step.

"Claaaaa!" Looking up, a strange scaled bird… thing, was perched on a wooden pole, it had a sharp snout and teeth poking out.

"Thats just a Lizigeon, ignore em, nothing but pests round 'ere, careful with your lunch though." Lance laughed. Nythera found herself before… she wasn't sure what it was. The walls around it came up to her knees, vaguely in the shape of an oversized bathtub, with a little shack and sails on it.

"Oi, Frank, 've brought you some manpower fresh from the sea, she'll work for free" Lance bellowed at the bathtub and pushed Nythera forward. A creaky wooden door swung open on the shack, miraculously clinging to its hinges. Out hobbled an old man with a gnarled walking stick.

"Howdy Lance" Frank nodded his head several times "ain't no call fer all that racket so early, was tryin' to catch some shut-eye here."

"The morning starts early for some of us, Frank, I don't have time to wait for your beauty sleep, gotta get back to the frontier, take the lass and I'll be on my way." Lance retorted.

"Alright miss Nyth, it's all you now, go break a few legs" Lance slapped her on the back, she clutched at a dock pole to stop from being thrown into the river. Nythera glared at him "Thanks Lance, I appreciate the help you have given me." As Lance left, Nythera turned to face Frank.

"Good morning sir, I am grateful for you letting me accompany you upriver, Lance said you could take me to the center where that strange building is" Nythera said, a note of hopefulness in her voice.

"Aye, I can do that miss, but you'll be working to pay for your voyage, hop aboard and untie us from the dock, then unfurl the main and we'll be off" Frank ordered. Turning away he talked to something moving in the corner of the ship.

"I swear the things Lance makes me do, taking some witch bitch onboard. Up the Wake River we go." he grumbled, going back into the shack. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. And really… once again branded as some weird witch. Why do the Mereians brand any with white hair a witch? … She pushed off yet another set of rocks.

She was not used to ship work and that was apparent, no more than to Frank, who had to come out of the shack and scolded her at least three times on how to tie off the main sail. He settled in the back of the bathtub, manning the rudder as they floated upstream. He had a giant grey isopod onboard, but it was missing an antenna and he kept feeding it booze. It frequently crashed into things on the deck as it lumbered in circles around the cabin.

Nythera's duty, as it turned out, was to use a long pole to push them away from rocks before they sank, which happened far too many times for her to ever become remotely "comfortable". As they sailed up the gigantic sleepy river, they passed by large mountains that flanked the river on either side. Ahead of her she couldn't tell exactly where they were going, thick mist hung in the air. Lizigeons flew overhead, occasionally coming and going, searching for a quick meal.

Nothing was said as they went, Frank seeming content to nearly sink them every five minutes rather than steer properly. She could swear he enjoyed watching her struggle against the rocks, but whenever she tried to sneak a glance, he was always looking straight ahead at the mist, in a permanent frown. The only thing she ever heard was Frank occasionally yelling at the isopod, "Henry". Half a day had passed and the scenery had changed with it. Water had surrounded their little craft, the shore no longer in sight.

The river's current had subsided and the mountains were now behind them, but now a thick fog obscured their view. Flux flowed at random here, not as orderly as it had in the river, but it was still soothing to watch. The boat shifted as Frank stood up, "Alright miss, you've done yer part, get ready to jump". The sail was half fluttering and the bathtub's moment stalled. The coastline lay barely visible through the fog. She approached the bow of the bathtub and waited, one leg poised on the gunwale.

(The top edge of a boat's side) As the gap slowly closed, Nythera tensed her body… and jumped! Landing with a resounding splash just short of the beach, she pulled her soaked boots out of the mud and waved towards Frank "Thank you for bringing me here, will you be back to pick me up tomorrow?"

"Hehehehe little lady, comin' 'ere was already risky enough, I'll be staying in the middle of the Mirrorwake, if you can find a way there in daylight I'll getcha, but I ain't approaching the beach again, too dangerous" Frank had already begun drifting away, picking up momentum. Henry seemed to be busy eating the sail.

"Sure as fuck won't be here at night" Frank called back as he disappeared into mist. The last thing she heard was "Oi ya get ya lazy ass off the sail, fucking Henry" the voice fading out. Uh, what, he never mentioned this! What is so dangerous they are afraid to even approach the coastline? Nythera glared nervously at the forest she was now left facing, looking everywhere for her impending doom. CLAaaaaa, A lizigeon croaked from a nearby branch.

Alright Nythera, you might still be unclassed, but you've got enough stats most wildlife should be manageable. Assuming Frank didn't completely screw me, I should be close to the Aurendorian monument that Lance mentioned. Nythera found an opening in the forest line and advanced towards it. She tried to keep the direction of the beach in her mind, but it got increasingly harder as she advanced. If I lose the beach I am so fucked, how am I even supposed to get to Frank without a boat?

Not ten minutes more had she walked before stumbling upon a massive monument hewn from black stone much like the stone in the plaza at Grandport. They said they couldn't open it… but I suspect father's advice could be the key. He told me blood was the key to our past, but did he mean that literally or figuratively? She walked around it, stopping when she found some runic script on what appeared to be a gigantic inset double door, more than twice her height with a rigid square frame.

"Myrraval Core Vault" Nythera felt her blood rising. This is it this is it this is really it, it exists! The excitement overrode her sensibilities, she immediately searched for more script or some kind of keyhole. Right at the center of the doors, more text lay.

"Thou who hails from ….. Place your hand …." She couldn't make out all the runes, there were some runes she had never seen before, but she felt she had the gist of it and there was a 5 pointed mark directly underneath the inscription. Should have paid more attention to father and Will's classes but they were soooo boring. She immediately slammed her hand onto the mark. She felt a sharp pinch on her thumb "Ouch" Nythera recoiled from the wall and looked at her hand, the middle of her thumb was bleeding a bit.

A sparkling mass of dark energy appeared directly before the door, right in front of her face, she nearly tripped over her own feet backing up.

"I am The Watcher, and you are a young Aurendorian" A voice resonated through the clearing, deep but quiet, the language was what she had been taught since childhood, Aurendorian.

"Yes I am Aurendorian" Nythera answered.

"Let's see now, unclassed, nineteen, no retainers, average base stats, and a few interesting titles. Also the first person to try a vault in well over a thousand years. I suppose Aurendor must not be doing so well if you're the best they can send" every word was followed by a pulse of energy from the black light.

"What the fuck do you mean-" She was cut off "First trial question: The local powers reject your control, what do you do?"

"What? Local powers? I guess I would try to set them against each other, it's easier if people are busy fighting each other and not me. But why do I care about local powers or taking control?"

"Good enough, next question" the orb sighed, energy deflating as it shrunk. YES! Is this why Father made me spend so long on statecraft and war theory, all for a test from some orb in the middle of the woods?

"What if they all hate you?" The orb asked.

"I would find a new target for them, or make one, redirecting their hatred is easier than fighting it" Nythera answered faster. It paused.

"Next question: Your ancestors killed tens of millions to make the Empire of Aurendor, will you do the same?" By Kronan, they killed that many? I've spent half my life running from people who want to kill me for reasons I still don't know. Why should I show them any mercy? Mercy is for those who can afford it.

"If I have to, I will run over everyone in my way and anyone who threatens me. By myself if I need to. My enemies will burn" Nythera's voice carried a deep note of spite.

"If I refuse to allow you in, what will you do?"

"I've got a cannon and time, I'm sure I could blow my way into your stupid vault eventually" Nythera shrugged. PLEASE DON'T, it would be such a pain in the ass. I doubt my cannon can even dent these walls.

"Very well, what would you do if I simply killed you here and now? That would prevent you from using your cannon and allow me another millenia of rest." Flux concentrated on the orb, swirling around it in a mini-typhoon. Huh.

"What is your answer?" The typhoon of energy sped up, expanding slowly in a torrent of darkness. A lance of energy shot out of the sphere, skewering a lizigeon perched on a tree above. Thunk The corpse hit the forest floor. Her heart raced in her chest. It could kill me where I stand.

"I would fight until my last breath. We would see how you like a cannon to the face. But…" Nythera trailed off. Take the bait. It pulsed.

"But what?" Nythera stuck her chin out.

"Something put here by Aurendor to guard a core vault is not going to kill a royal successor. You are bluffing."

"So it would seem." The orb disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place. Maybe that wasn't the smartest way to approach this… A grinding sound, of stone on stone, permeated the air, she looked up and immediately started backing away. The doors slid open to a 90 degree angle and revealed a massive, pitch black space. It worked. Nythera started slowly towards the entrance, giving her eyes time to adjust to the dim lighting.

As she gained vision of what lay inside, she found that the room was lined with a stone balcony on the inside and one central staircase from the door heading down to the center of the room, which was dug into the ground. A rainbow of flux practically flooded the inner chamber, swirling around and seeping into the stone and flooring. Nythera proceeded down the stairs, every step wiping off thousands of years of dust.

There, in the center of the room, on a small pedestal sat a glowing orb, colors and brightness shifted slowly from one shade to another. No fucking way, I was right! I was right! These islands do have a domain core, they just couldn't get to it and now…. I can claim an authority class. MY authority class. She couldn't stop a grin from filling her face. Nythera reached the bottom of the chamber, standing right before the core.

It was beautiful in a way she could not put into words, the ever-shifting light, she could watch forever, like a well-made campfire. My first step on the way to revenge. Will. Will, are you watching this moment? Father, do you see me now? I do this for our family. She reached one hand forwards and grasped the core. Gasping as she could feel it disintegrate into her and merge with her, streams of crystalline light flowing into her arm.

She immediately felt a rush, the power entering her tingled in her gut as it settled. She flicked up her new system notifications.