Vault

[Nea Alba. Streets.

Kifestein.]

We had a complete changeover from how we were dressed at the restaurant as we continued behind the tattooed man. How is this not suspicious to anyone?

The man kept a steady pace and moved around inconspicuously. We would have given up on the chase had it not been for his shock every time he saw a patrol.

"You seem oddly used to this," said Ivan.

"I do? I guess I am."

Ivan looked at me and smirked. "So you're the stalker type, huh? Pathetic."

Hah?! Mate, did you look at yourself before saying that? I didn't get the chance to retort as the tattooed man moved into a narrow passageway.

We followed him into the thin path. It was just wide enough for one person. Ivan walked right behind me. After about ten minutes, the man stopped. He looked around and then bent down in front of a sewer entrance. He grunted and pulled the lid off before jumping in.

"What do you think? Should we go in?" I asked.

"Can you sense him with magic?"

"Nope."

There was no need to tell him the truth. If Ivan was using me, then I couldn't dance to his beat anymore.

Ivan nodded in contemplation and said. "Let's just go in. We can knock the guy out,"

**

A powerful stench of all kinds of waste assaulted our noses. The dark sewers looked like they housed many species of bugs and rats.

"There's a path here, this way," Ivan said, pointing towards a small hole in the sewer walls. We tiptoed inside the path, narrower than the streets we just came from. The path curved in its depths. The lack of light told us that there weren't any exits ahead.

I used magic to locate the tattooed fella ahead of us. He had stopped at some huge... gate? Down here?

Click

Ivan moved ahead, quickening his pace. He smoothly crept up on the man. He was so silent and swift that if I wasn't using magic, I would have lost sight of him. Ivan pulled out a dagger from his waist and cut the man's neck in one swift blow.

"Was that necessary?" I asked. "He could have opened that gate up ahead."

"He would've noticed us, eventually. You can use magic here?"

"Hmm? Yeah?'

"Ah... I see." Ivan walked the huge gate thing and inspected it. He turned back and looked straight in my eye, his face frozen still. "Why, would you ever call a vault a gate?"

"Ah... It's shaped like a gate"

Ivan shook his head and sighed. "Well, I guess I can do something about this vault," Ivan said as he pulled out some tools from within his coat. "Be quiet for about 30 minutes, ok?"

"Ah sure, take your time," I said. Ivan got on his knees and fiddled around with his tools. Exactly 30 minutes later, a loud echo reverberated in the small room. Damn, that rat really opened the vault.

"How d'you even do that?" I asked. Those are not skills just anyone can display, especially for mechanisms that don't use magic.

"I think his friends will notice anytime now. Get a move on?" Ivan ignored my question.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." We passed by the walls to enter an even darker room. The room was wide, still no signs of an exit.

"Wanna give us some light, maybe?"

I started a small fire in my palms.

Guns, hundreds of guns. Pistols, muskets, and rifles of all kinds. Shells and bullets and even some explosives. This place reeked of gunpowder.

This is crazy! So many weapons can—

"Damn, the stuff here can cause some serious mayhem." — as he said, cause mayhem!

Is he a good guy or bad? He clearly led me here. Was he someone trying to ensure all these weapons stay in safe hands? Yeah, as if, how do I know he didn't just kill someone who's working to stop him? He was too quick with the murder right there.

I conjured up my grade 5 dark sword and kicked him right behind his knee. He fell, and I placed my sword on his neck. "Let's hear the entire story this time, 'kay?"