Sylver Seeker

Sylver rose out of the ground, and on his own two legs, walked over to the campfire Edmund was sitting next to. Faust and Anna were in the tent on the left, while the priests and paladins quietly worked on repairing their equipment on the right.

Sophia had gone somewhere northwards and said she would return in a few hours.

As Sylver sat down on one of the logs surrounding the campfire, his head burst into flames. The dark brown flames wriggled around as if they were long strands of hair swaying in the wind.

“Do you need surgery?” Edmund asked as the dark brown flames sputtered with sparks of gold, and strands of muscles appeared on Sylver’s face.

“No, some of the silver cut a bit too close to my core, but I got it all out. Tell me about the Moon Demon,” Sylver said.

Edmund made a slow circular gesture towards Sylver’s head, and gradually lowered his hand. The brown flames followed suit, and the fire flowed down into Sylver’s robe.

“What’s there to tell? It’s a demon, with the ability to control the moons. During the next winter solstice, it will start to rain, and over the course of a few months, the whole world will drown,” Edmund explained. He seemed to find the concept amusing, as opposed to annoying.

“Sounds about right… Did you eat anything?” Sylver asked.

“I did. Caught some fish in the river… How are you feeling?” Edmund asked.

Sickly red steam came out of Sylver’s mouth as he spoke.

“Not great... But the worst is over. What did you tell her?” Sylver asked.

“That you were in an unimaginable amount of pain and were keeping yourself conscious through sheer force of will. And that you weren’t in the best of moods to begin with,” Edmund said.

“What did she say?” Sylver asked.

“Well… She was upset that you lied to her. And I get the impression she feels that you deserved this for lying. On the other hand, once it occurred to her that you might die from silver poisoning, she looked like she was about to burst into tears,” Edmund said.

“I see.”

“Aside from being a zealot, she seems nice. Although knowing you, the fact that she is a zealot is half the reason you like her,” Edmund said, with a knowing grin.

The red steam leaking out of Sylver’s mouth became darker. As Edmund made a gesture with his hand, the steam began to leak through Sylver’s robe.

“I like women who know what they want,” Sylver said.

“That’s one way of putting it.”

“Anyway… So how will Sobek waking up stop the Moon Demon?” Sylver asked.

Edmund just shrugged.

“Sophia is on a quest from Ra himself. If she doesn’t wake up the turtle, the whole world will drown, and it will be her fault. That’s all she has to go on,” Edmund said.

Sylver lowered his face into his bony hands and sat like that for a while. Edmund continued healing him, as much as he could.

He told Sylver everything Sophia had told him, which wasn’t a whole lot.

The reason she thought Sylver was an apostle of Anubis, was because Sophia had wrongfully assumed that the god brand on Nautis’ neck was the source of his curse. Because it was easier to believe that Sylver was being backed by a god, than that he was capable of using curses that required the power of a god to cure them.

Sophia’s group had used some sort of holy artifact to heal Tuli, but right after they started the healing process, Nautis chased them away. After that, their attempts to get anywhere near Tuli had been fruitless. Nautis didn’t attack them directly, he merely teleported them away.

And as was usual with priests, Sophia’s current plan mostly consisted of waiting for her god to answer her pleas for help. But despite the safety of the world hanging in the balance, Ra was yet to give Sophia so much as a hint as to how to deal with Nautis.

At some point, Sylver felt his two most important organs solidify and snap into place.

[Undead Mastery (VI) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Undead Mastery (VI) rank up available!]

[Mirage (IV) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Mirage (IV) rank up available!]

[Necrotic Mutilation (IV) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Necrotic Mutilation (IV) rank up available!]

[Mutating Override (II) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Mutating Override (II rank up available!]

[Arcane Insight (IV) Proficiency increased to 58%!]

[Vigorous Conditioning (V) Proficiency increased to 100%!]

[Vigorous Conditioning (V) rank up available!]

While Sylver was busy reading through the various effects his skills offered him, Sophia returned.

At first, he thought it was a trick of the light, but as Sophia got closer, Sylver saw that Sophia was taller than she had been earlier. By about half a foot.

And as she got close enough for the campfire light to illuminate her body, Sylver saw that Sophia had new tattoos, that reached down to her forearms.

“We’re going to attack Nautis at sunrise. I would like you to help me,” Sophia said.

Her voice was… it was soothing, but at the same time, it hurt Sylver’s ears.

Normally, Sylver kept his distance when god-empowered priests did whatever it is they did.

But this was the rare case where their interests were aligned. And given that Sylver didn’t have any alternatives, his choice was to either join Sophia and her priests and paladins or sit around twiddling his thumbs while he waited for some sort of epiphany.

“Sure. But we’ll need to wait for Ed to fly Anna to Novva first, and come back,” Sylver said, as he stood up, and brushed away the shimmering steam leaking out of his robe.

Sophia shook her head.

“Our only chance is to attack while the suns are rising. If he isn’t back by sunrise, we’ll have to go without him,” Sophia said.

Sylver and Edmund shared a look, after which Edmund floated off towards Faust’s tent. He returned a moment later, and Sylver could see by the silhouettes on the tent wall that the two people inside were quickly getting dressed.

“It will be close, but I can do it,” Edmund said, as the sword he had been using as a seat floated off the ground and attached itself to his back.

“Why not bring her with us? You said she can’t be harmed,” Sophia asked.

“Because I would take it very personally if she were to get kidnapped,” Sylver answered.

As Sophia said, Anna can’t be hurt, but she could be stolen, and hidden away.

And as Edmund said, he’d be back in time to help them attack, so they weren’t losing anything by sending Anna away.

Sylver could handle anything dark magic related that Nautis’ people could throw at them, and Sophia and her lot were powerful enough that, if nothing else, they would be capable of buying time for Sylver or Faust to handle things.

“We strike at dawn,” Sylver said to a half-awake Faust.

“What’s the plan?” Faust asked as he watched the fireball in the sky that was Edmund and Anna.

“Follow Sophia, and hope for the best,” Sylver said, in such a relaxed tone of voice, that Faust couldn’t bring himself to ask for details.

If Sylver considered this an acceptable plan, then Faust trusted that it was as good of a plan as any other.