Betrayal/Found Out

"Equip," The man said, pointing at the new gear before turning around slightly.

"Put on the armor now?!"

"Hmm," He nodded slightly to the wall he was staring at.

"O-Ok" He muttered before taking off his suit and quickly equipping the armor, before equipping his suit again since it was designed to hide armor.

He sheathed the dagger in a hidden pocket in near his wrist that was easily accessible.

After making sure everything was put on correctly and his movement wasn't impaired he finally voiced out to the man that he was ready.

The man turned around slowly and without even looking at Drew completely spoke again.

"Follow,"

'I give up at this point,' Drew sighed internally.

The man walked to the opposite side of the room that they had entered, before snapping his fingers, making an entryway into a much larger room.

He silently walked forward and Drew followed behind.

The room was just as simple as the previous one, the walls being simple stone with nothing that defined it specially. But instead of there being a desk and chairs in the room, it was filled with nothing. The room was empty.

The man walked about halfway across the large room before stopping and turning to face Drew.

"Hmm," The man grunted before snapping his fingers again.

The doorway behind them closed once more but that wasn't the end of it. A loud bang of white light flashed in between them, and what appeared after the light subsided surprised Drew.

A short and familiar Dwarf had appeared in the room out of thin air. He wore similarly neat clothes as before, but instead of grey, his clothes were dark black with the symbol of the guild on his chest, the threaded dark hand stood out strongly in the bright room.

"Evening, Drew!" The Dwarf said in a chipper tone.

"Good evening Gill...," Drew said in return as he stared at the Dwarf with confusion.

"I get that this might all seem strange, but it was the higher-up's order that we go about it this way," He said politely.

"Hmm," The silent man grunted in some sort of... humor?

"So what exactly is going on?"

"Ah..." He said while rubbing his hands together slowly.

"Typically I would have just shown you to the Den and given you a run-through of the guild... but instead of that being the case, we gotta evaluate you a little bit more than the average member,"

Drew kept a blank face on as the Dwarf spoke but his eyes kept seeking answers.

"That's why good ol' Silent End has been assessing you," Gill said with a chuckle and a wave towards the silent man.

"So that was why he had me learn the Dark Hand skill?"

"Indeed," Gill nodded.

"Since you have made it this far I guess I can clue you in a little on the situation at hand,"

Silent End remained silent as Gill spoke, but his head was intently pointed towards Drew. Though the man's eyes couldn't be seen... Drew could tell that he was being watched intensely.

"After inviting you I had a friend do some digging to further check out your background," Gill said before pausing, looking at Drew expectantly.

"I don't really have much of a-" Drew said before being cut off.

"But after a whole week of searching and talking to informants... We got basically nothing," He continued.

"The only things we got are that you were in Fig Galewald's Tavern awhile back and headed towards The Church of Bram,"

"No one saw you enter the Tavern. And even after snooping around the Church, no one knows where you come from,"

"And you see Drew... That's a big red flag in our business," Gill said, his face turning from chipper to stone.

"Everyone has a trail. Everyone has a story. But even after contacting our best, they still couldn't get a single whiff of your trail,"

"Your skin, eyes, and hair led us to believe you were a Godfallen from the land of Godrick,"

"But that just can't be,"

"All Godfallen within Lyre are well documented due to their political connection to Godrick. And there is not a single record of a 'Drew Pence' within any City of this kingdom that we could find,"

"Even a bastard son of a Godfallen would be well documented... so to have no trace is simply impossible,"

"But if you are not a Godfallen... then what are you?" He asked Grimly.

"I told you! I have memory problems. I woke up in Fig's Tavern with most of my memories gone," Drew lied through his teeth, trying desperately to get away from these two trained thieves.

"Hmm," Silent End grunted while shaking his head negatively.

"A convenient excuse... My friend here is talented at seeing through people's true intentions. And you, my friend, are lying,"

Drew was at a loss for words.

"I... don't know what to tell you," He said with his head down.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're alive right now..."

"And why we gave you such pretty gear,"

'Why would they give me gear? Or teach me one of their skills? He's right... It doesn't make any sense,' Drew muttered internally.

'System, is there any way you could try and analyze their general power levels? I got a feeling this might get nasty,'

[Performing Data Collection]

Blue light only visible by Drew began sweeping through the room and scanning the two thieves for what felt like forever before returning back into Drew's body.

[Calculating...]

"Well Lad, its because Father Geralt spoke highly of you,"

"He's on our side of the Church of Bram. He spotted you sneaking into the Church not too long ago,"

Realization dawned on Drew as he remembered the man who actively tried to distract the nuns and priests around him.

"As you are now, there's a good chance you are a spy for another faction, but because of Geralt's word we think you deserve a chance,"

"The first test was to see if you would lie about your capabilities,"

"It's clear that you lied about your magical affinities but that's not the issue,"

"The issue is that you left out a good amount of skills in your possession," Gill said with a searching gaze.

"So friend... do you mind enlightening us on your capabilities? It's the only way we can be certain you aren't a pawn of another party. If you have a skill unique to another faction... it will show your guilt. And if not, then it will help us build our trust," He said with a hint of friendliness in his tone, despite his grim and threatening face.

[Strength has been evaluated]

[Silent End is a trained assassin and infiltrator with powerful Equipment. Threat Level: Disaster]

[Gill Rike is a trained appraiser and spy with decent equipment. Threat Level: Minimal]

'Fun,' Drew thought as a sinking feeling filled his chest.

'Silent End sure is overkill for a runt like me,' He thought while glancing at the tall and stiff man.

"Skills..." He muttered, thinking over the reaction he would get if he did let them in on his Unique Skills.

'It's either that... or death,'

"Fine," Drew said bitterly.

"My Magical Affinity is Time Magic and it's at Spark level,"

A look of amusement began to creep onto Gill's face but was stifled when Silent End nodded stiffly at Drew's statement, all that remained after the confirmation was surprise and a hint of disbelief.

"The skills I left out are unusual from what I could find out, so I didn't think sharing them was a good idea,"

"But seeing as The Black Strings aren't asking anymore, I suppose I will enlighten you,"

"Since I have time magic it is obvious that I have the Time Magic Mastery skill,"

"And after that, I have 4 skills that I believe are unique to me,"

Silent End nodded once more, and Gill's face quickly became one of disbelief.

"The first is the skill called 'Blessing of Bram',"

"It was a skill I gained from him after he requested me to not destroy their holy artifact,"

"I also have a skill called Remembrance. It is a skill that I gained from becoming a chosen of the Goddess of Death,"

"The next two are related, one is a skill I woke up with while the other I developed not too long ago. I have a Unique skill called Mana Reaper and another called Mana Burn,"

The bitterness and betrayal that came off of Drew were thick, and as Silent End continued to nod, it stifled the air with anger.

"In addition, I have a unique spell called 'Dispel'. I am unsure what branch it is under. The only knowledge I have of it is that it is under the wide net of 'Transcendent' Affinities," Drew said before going silent.

Gill's face became somber as Silent End nodded for the final time.

"I didn't expect..." The dwarf trailed off.

Silent End's mask was still pointed directly towards Drew, his unseen eyes boring holes into his soul.

Gill looked as if he was about to speak up once more, but a hand from Silent End silenced him.

"I," He grunted.

"Am sorry,"

His raised hand smoothly reached towards his mask before unclipping some buckles, causing the mask to come loose.

He gently removed it and what appeared behind it surprised Drew.

The man in front of him was pitch white. His short hair looked like moonlight and the only thing that wasn't was his eyes which were two pools of inky blackness.

Then there were the scars. There weren't many of them but the ones that were there were deep. The black cuts marred his porcelain skin.

"My name is Kull," He grunted in a barely understandable voice.

"I am... Like you," He struggled to find the right words.

Gill remained silent at 'Kull's' words, and his face was still and remorseful.

"You were... punished,"

Drew felt memories of his past creep into his mind at the man's words and his body began to tremble lightly.

"You were never... wanted... accepted... seen," He said hoarsely, a small amount of blood trickling down from his lips as he spoke.

"Used,"

"I saw that,"

"At first glance,"

"But I listen," He grunted while waving the hand he held the mask in towards Gill.

"He is not bad," He said while switching his gaze towards Gill.

"Just stupid,"

It was at this point that Drew finally got to see why the man had a bloody mouth. His mouth and tongue were just as white as his skin, but just like his face, he had black scars carved into his mouth and tongue, and speaking caused blood to pour from the damaged tissues.

"I sorry," He grunted in pain.

"You join me?" Blood sprayed out of his mouth as he coughed.

The Dwarf's head hung low from some unknown emotion. Perhaps shame? Regret?

"W-What do you mean?" Drew stuttered.

"I teach you," Kull struggled out.

Drew looked into the man's black eyes and felt something deep within him reach out.

'He's like me,'

'Perhaps he lived even worse than me,' He thought while seeing a scar trailing near to his right eye.

He felt an invisible bond between himself and Kull. An understanding of the pain they both felt. A pain that one could only see in the eyes of the betrayed.

"I refuse to join the Black Strings," He said suddenly.

"I am truly sorry Lad, it was not my intention to reveal your predicament," Gill said almost... desperately.

"Those with unique skills and a Magical Affinity as powerful as your own... Would be hunted by the world if word got out,"

"Please do not shy away from the Guild due to my mistake,"

"I swear upon my position as the co-guild leader of the Black Strings, that I will never speak a word of this secret,"

"But please... Don't leave so suddenly,"

"I admit I made a mistake, but don't throw away an opportunity like this because of a small mistake," He pleaded.

"You..." Drew trailed off in anger.

Kull spoke up once more, his pain getting better with his silence.

"If you leave... I leave... You are... Kin... Only one... Who understands... pain,"

"You Join me?" He asked again.