A Dangerous Choice

Drew stared deeply into the eyes of Kull. The black pools remained still despite his pain. They held no profound loneliness or despair within them as his words would suggest... but there was a feeling that Drew couldn't shake.

'Why am I drawn to him?' He asked himself as he felt that invisible connection between himself and the shadow man.

[The Host's soul seems to resonate powerfully with Kull's. This causes connection on a deeper level than most bonds. It is something commonly seen in twins or best friends. The same can be true for people who have felt the same pain]

'Hmm...'

'We really are the same then,'

"We are Kin..." He repeated after Kull.

"I will join you,"

"Good," Kull grunted.

"But I will not join the Dark Strings, not after your blatant disregard of my privacy and honor," He said while turning his gaze towards Gill.

"Slow down there, Kiddo!"

"Don't make a rash decision," Gill said while raising his hands.

"My decision is final. Nothing you say will change your betrayal in my faith,"

Gill stared back at Drew with an unreadable expression for a few seconds. But after seeing Drew's determination... his face went stone cold.

"Then you force my hand, Drew Pence," Gill said menacingly.

Drew furrowed his brow at those words and readied himself to draw his weapons if need be.

"Someone like you isn't something the Guild could let go... So if you leave,"

"Then not just us will come looking for you ya,"

"Hmm," Kull grunted before he turned to face Gill.

"No," He said simply.

"You have no say in the matter, Kull!"

"You owe us your life!" Gill said viciously.

"So stay quite like you always do and stay out of my way,"

Kull's eyes narrowed and he shook his head silently.

"I don't owe anything to anybody. And if you want silence... silence you shall have," He said with a sense of finality.

Before Gill could reply, Kull had already teleported behind the Dwarf with some sort of shadow skill and sliced his throat with Serenity. The cut was silent and the body hit the floor with seemingly no impact.

Kull squatted down and gently cleaned his dagger on the dead dwarf's clothes before sheathing it and standing back up.

He turned his pale face towards Drew's... trying to glean his thoughts, but all he saw was a look of confidence and understanding.

'I am curious though...'

Drew walked towards Kull and the corpse before bending down and placing a hand on Gill's forehead.

He closed his eyes and focused his mana to delicately enter the body.

[Would you like to use the [Rememberance] Skill to send the corpse of [Gill Rike] to an afterworld?]

"Yes," He whispered gently.

Kull stared intently, watching every move Drew made with interest.

[What afterlife would you like to send [Gill Rike] to?]

A smile broke out upon Drew's face as he saw that simple question appear.

'What afterlives are there?'

[They are as follows]:

-

[Realms of the Dead]:

Pilgrims Rest

Forge's Hearth

Ancient World

The Astral Tower

The Bloody Battlefield

The Heroes Tavern

Plane of the Lost

The Underworld

The River of Souls

-

'Interesting...'

'But where does this dwarf deserve to spend all of eternity in?'

This was the true power of Remembrance. It wasn't just about getting a better reputation with the dead... but being able to force souls to pass on to the afterlife you choose for them. You become akin to an angle of death, a judge and executioner of souls.

'Some of these sound rather nice... But some sound rather horrid,'

'How about... The plane of the lost,'

'Should be a fun place for him to think over his mistakes,' Drew thought while remembering the void.

[Sending [Gill Rike] to The Plane of The Lost]

[...]

A glow appeared from Gill's body and a ghostly image of the man lifted into the air with a puzzled look on his face.

His eyes opened in anger as he saw the Kull and Drew over his body, he tried to scream but found his neck was sliced open, and not a word escaped his ethereal lips.

The only thing Drew could make out from reading his lips was one word...

'Revenge,'

But before the Dwarf could continue spewing threats, a large black portal opened up in the air above the ghost. Tendrils of black energy escaped from the portal and latched onto the Ghost's limbs as it tore it into the strange plane that Drew had sent Gill to.

The last thing Drew saw of the dwarf was the look of pure terror that filled his face as he was pulled into the afterlife.

Kull watched all of this silently and after it was done he gave a small round of applause at Drew's work.

He attempted to speak but found himself unable to as blood poured out of his mouth at a considerable rate.

Kull grimaced before pulling out a small vial of red liquid. He downed the liquid and the bleeding stopped immediately.

A look of consideration appeared on his face before he snapped suddenly.

As soon as he snapped a large magical scroll appeared in the air in front of Drew and a quill sat ready to write.

"What is this...?" Drew asked as he stared at the scroll that shimmered with magic.

'It's Illusion Magic,' The quill wrote as it scribbled across the illusionary scroll. The writing was exquisite, It was smooth as running water, with no faltering as it weaved across the page.

"Illusion Magic... It's your magical affinity? Does that mean..."

'Yes. It is my second most trained magical affinity. My most advanced affinity is Shadow Magic and my least is Mind Magic,'

"So the doors weren't really disappearing," Drew muttered as he looked back at the entrance, and sure enough, it was there once more.

'Indeed,'

'I find the skill you used just now incredibly unique,' The words complimented.

"Um... Thank you, Kull," Drew said shyly.

'I think that The Guildmaster's Soul is most likely to be unretrievable for Ressurection, which saves us from a lot of trouble in the future,'

"Ressurection?! That's a thing?"

'Ressurection is possible. The magic is incredibly difficult but for Gill's brother... nothing is impossible,'

"So Gill was one of the two Guildmasters? His brother is the other... Gill didn't seem too strong, but his brother seems different,"

'There were two Guildmasters, but now there is one. His name is Eralt Rike and he is the strongest rogue in The Kingdom of The Sea,'

'He has unimaginable wealth at his disposal and connections with most major forces in Lyre,'

'This is why your skill is extremely helpful,'

'Since his brother is dead and his soul no longer retrievable, it means that it is far less likely that he will find and target us without utmost certainty it was us who killed his brother,'

'And since Guildmaster Gill investigated you discreetly it is unlikely that he shared the information with his brother,'

"But I doubt that the death of Gill will remain a secret for long..."

'Correct. The brothers share an amulet that is known as a 'Life Link'. It will allow the other brother to know when and where their brother died as long as the brother's soul is around,'

"But his soul should be gone,"

'But Eralt Rike is not a stupid man. He would have noticed immediately after the Life Link broke and would surely be headed in this direction already,'

'I believe Gill said that his brother was in Corinth dealing with a magical academy there,'

'So by my estimates... it should take him about 30 minutes to reach here if he has Mel with him, which she usually is,'

"Mel?"

'Ah... You have not been introduced to the hierarchy system of the Black Strings,'

'The lower ranks are not important... what matters is the highest two ranks,'

'The highest rank is Guildmaster, which there used to be two of,'

'The next in command is the 4 hands of Rike. I am one of the hands and served under Gill Rike during the majority of my life,'

'The other 3 hands all differ in expertise but the one that really matters is a pure-blooded elven woman that goes by the name of Mel,'

'She is a talented mage and is one of the few mages to have the Spacial Magic Affinity. That is why it shouldn't take them long to get here,'

"So we gotta get going quick," Drew said as he realized the severity of their situation.

'Yes. There are three options that I believe could be viable to retreat to,'

'We could go to your shack in the forest, though I feel it would be rather cramped for me and not something I would enjoy,'

'Or we could pay for rooms at a tavern, which is easy since wealth is not something I lack,'

'And finally, we could head to my hideout in Newcourt. My hideout has the majority of my wealth and supplies which would be essential for your growth. I promise to teach you all that I can in place of what the tutors here could have,'

"Your being... really generous,"

"We just met not too long ago," Drew said hesitantly.

Kull nodded towards Drew before speaking again instead of using his magic.

"We... Are... Kin," He grunted.

His face portrayed no emotion, but his voice was filled with an unyielding determination that tried its hardest to show what he was feeling.

"Okay... We are Kin," Drew said with a deep breath.

"I don't have much in the shack, so going back there isn't required, but I do have unfinished business within Nickten,"

"Done," Kull said with a nod.

"Done?"

The illusionary scroll continued its scribbling after Kull's words.

'You seek to find and kill the con man known as Sebastian Greennose, correct?'

'As well as seek out the local High Priest afterward to return the holy relic of Bram, known as 'The Candle of First Light','

"U-Uh... How did you know?" Drew stuttered at Kull's intensive knowledge.

'We got the information after some digging,'

'A Half-Elf Tailor by the name of Mavick was asking for word on where the man's favorite alleys to do business at where,'

'The questioning started up after you met him,'

'In addition, we have intel on the man and his act of theft. So it was rather easy to make a guess after we got word of you sneaking into the church,'

"I see..." Drew said with a sigh.

'It seems like my 'Stealth' skills are worth nothing in Kull's eyes,'

'I gotta learn a trick or two from him...,'