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Nachbildung von Schloss Lichtenstein CH04

Seth goes on some unexpected adventures, meets some new friends, and finds out what he must do on his secret mission.

Seth crept further into the spacious battlement, bewildered by what he saw and felt. It was nothing like he had ever seen before.

The doorway led into a gothic vestibule that was one of the most intricate and detailed spaces Seth had ever seen. It was way nicer than Blackwell Keep, and oddly well-kept for a place people didn’t often visit. The furniture seemed antique and didn’t appear to be made of any traditional wood; it had sort of an aura omitting from it that hinted otherwise. Seth couldn’t believe that he hadn’t been told about what was actually in this place! He had assumed it was abandoned and neglected or something which is why the tour guide hadn’t taken them inside.; but apparently this place was better taken care of than the Keep. Seth stalked around in mild disbelief for a few minutes, taking in the extravagant detailing that gave it a gothic feel and made Seth feel comfortable and safe.

Seth walked into one of the connecting hallways and looked for an entrance to the courtyard, he had went there to read and that was what he decided to do in the moment, he could explore another day but he wanted to read all about Shadow charmers, the Society of the Evening Star, and the demons of Wyrmoost as soon as he could. He had to make sure he was knowledgeable on these subjects before he went on his daring adventure later that night. It took him about a minute of slow walking to see the open archway leading to the courtyard.

Once Seth entered the courtyard his jaw dropped from how beautiful it all was. There was a gazebo made of dark blue wood in the centre, and it was surrounded by beautifully mystic shrubbery that seemed to put off the same aura as the building itself. The courtyard was rectangular in shape and had many features off to either side of the gazebo including a small pond with a multitude of creatures like koi fish, extravagantly coloured frogs and other things inside it Seth could not identify. The courtyard also possessed brick paths leading to seating areas around the space, water fountains that seemed to infinitely circulating water, many medieval looking streetlamps to light it up when it got dark, and Plants like star jasmine, clematis, or bougainvillea lining the walls making it feel earthy and overgrown. Seth wanted to read in the courtyard in order to spend as much time as possible outside, so he scanned the area to find a seat that looked particularly comfy, for being outside at least. Off to the left of the gazebo, Seth spotted a gothic style jhoola made of the same blue wood as the gazebo, it had a beautifully intricate design that looked old but well taken care of. Seth strolled over to it and carefully tried it out; he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t fall straight through it during his studying. After verifying that the jhoola was up to his standards he placed his tote bag with his now useless picnic blanket down and took out his most anticipated read, “Secrets of Shadow Charmers”, he was excited to learn more about the powers he could now hope to develop.

He read on and on about all of the cool abilities he could attain as a Shadow Charmers. He already knew about most of them, but it was nice to know how they worked and not that in theory they could work. Shade Walking, communicating with certain magical beings in their native tongue, immunity to magical fear and emotion-manipulation inherently tied to dark creatures, fire manipulation and creation, getting out of sticky situations with lock picking and sensing certain power sources. Seth can currently omit a slightly fearful aura, pick locks, shade walk, and commune with certain creatures; but he wished to gain as many as these abilities as he possibly can, he reckoned that being able to shoot fire out of his hands would be pretty awesome.

The wind had picked up despite the heavy sun blaring down on Seth. He had started to sweat from the sheer heat even though he was just sitting there, maybe reading was a physically labourious task? Seth looked around in awe of his surroundings, he had never really cared to appreciate architecture because he was usually too busy with his shenanigans, but he was truly curious on what was up with this building. It felt alive in a sense, or that something connected to it was. Seth unexpectedly spotted a raven perched up on wall of the courtyard, seemingly watching him specifically. Surely this raven couldn’t be random, it had to have been sent by Buschgroßmutter. Seth was about to call out to the bird, to test if it acknowledged his poor attempt at communication, but it flew off the wall and swooped through the archway leading into the battlement, he could see it land on the floor within sight, returning Seth’s gaze.

Seth shot up and quickly shoved all his stuff back into his bag. He didn’t want to miss whatever he could be shown and this raven looked like it wanted to show him something. Seth sprinted into the building and stopped right in front of the waiting bird. The bird innocently blinked at him, making Seth second guess himself for believing that this bird was intelligent enough to lead him somewhere. The bird took off again to the left, leading Seth further into the hallway that he had previously entered through. Seth gave chase until the raven suddenly stopped Infront of a menacing looking door. It was large and was predominately made from a purple wood, a little bit of east Indian rosewood, and was framed by dark stones. The door handle was menacing as well being made off the same dark stone as the door frame. The door knocker was what tied it all together, it was a beautifully sculpted raven skull with a bewitching purple gem in the crown of its head. Seth felt the power seething through the door, whatever was in there he wanted to see it, and no one was around to convince him otherwise.

Seth pushed open the door, it creaked loudly from the obvious years of sustained stillness. Infront of him stood an office, It was clear that this room had belonged to someone powerful and in charge. There was a desk made up of dark wood and menacing framework done with animal bones. Behind the desk sat a matching throne and around the room were full bookshelves and pedestals with all sorts of weapons and books displayed. Seth’s eyes immediately darted to the thing he found most interesting in the whole room, a beautiful sword, with a long black blade, and glowing purple writing, spelling “Our Holder Awaits” from the top of the blade to the bottom in an obvious arcane language. The sword also had a black hilt and crossguard wrapped in black bandages. Seth Shuffled over to the sword standing inches from it, entirely encapsulated by the sheer power radiating off of it. Was this what he was feeling earlier? It was the oddest feeling he had ever experienced; he wanted the sword; the sword belonged to him.

Take the sword,

Do what you want and do what you will, from the tip to the hilt it will bend to your will,

It will switch and stay as whatever you please,

Slay or save those you try,

Only those privy to the shadows,

May cast this arm against those they deem abhorred.

Seth felt the atmosphere tighten, everything felt hyper focused on one specific thing, the sword. Without thinking Seth snatched the hilt of the enchanting sword, holding it out in front of him. The sword glowed intensely, the words engraved into the blade began to melt and then re-construct themselves into new words, spelling “Seth Sorenson”.

Seth stood there starstruck for a few seconds, his grandparents were going to be so mad at him! It was one thing to go into what Seth presumed was a demon’s old lair and it was another thing to get an evil sword to fuse to his will! Promptly the sword transformed into a dagger, it was basically the same thing as the sword but much smaller, it even had his name still engraved on it. Seth stared down at the dagger in his hand curiously. “It will switch and stay as whatever you please”. Who had said that earlier? He heard someone in his head recite the poem, but he didn’t take any real notice to it because Seth didn’t think it mattered at the time. He was too laser focused on the stupid sword! Seth looked down again but this time at the bright glowing words appearing on his right forearm. Panic suddenly began to overtake Seth, hiding his dagger was going to be hard enough, but a massive tattoo in bright purple glowing ink was going to be even harder to hide! He had no long sleeves with him and besides that if Bracken showed up, he would most definitely notice something was up with him. Hopefully that was delayed for as long as possible, at least until he found a way to cover this up or fix it! Seth looked down at his forearm again to read what was newly written right on his skin.

The tattoo read, “Raden Corporeal” In another arcane language. Like a tattoo in English wasn’t suspicious enough. Seth had to find a way to hide this quick, he had lost track of time reading and if someone checked his room and he wasn’t there everyone would majorly panic. Seth attempted to put the dagger into the bottom of his tote bag, to conceal it from his families' prying eyes; But unexpectedly the dagger dwindled into shadowy smoke and then transformed into what Seth presumed was a jaggedly cut tungsten ring, it wasn’t smooth like most rings made from that material and wasn’t reflective either. It looked as though it was made of volcano rock, but to the touch it felt like metal. The head of the ring held a purple gem suspiciously like the one on the door of the office, and if he looked deep and hard enough into the gemstone, Seth swore he could see an eye staring right back at him. This was what Seth described as a perfect way to hide the sword, not only was it readily accessible, it was also easy to miss. If someone asked him where he got it, he could just say he found it in his closet with the rest of his inherited stuff. Seth slipped the ring on to his right middle finger, he expected it to be a little loose, but it fit like a glove, almost like it was made for him.

Now all Seth had to do was figure out a way to hide his new tattoo. Not as easily hidden as his sword and he would have to improvise an actual solution once he got back to the Keep. He was surely going to ask Buschgroßmutter all about it later tonight, maybe even his unknown companion for his adventure could inform him on his newfound weapon. Seth resolved to just keep his forearm glued to his body in hopes that no one would notice anything was wrong with him.

Seth backed away from the pedestal and took one last look around the room, checking to see if anything else piqued his interest. Nothing really popped out at Seth, so he turned around and exited the room. Before he closed the door to let the raven leave, he noticed that the bird had vanished, or maybe it had just left before Seth noticed. He closed the door and stared at the gemstone identical to the one on his ring, he decided he would come back for it another time, he had no use for it at the moment.

Seth left the battlement and walked all the sorry way back to the Keep, remaining paranoid and vigilant hoping that no one would see his forearm. On his way back he spotted Kendra, he started to feel sick to his stomach with anxiety, and he sensed something new about Kendra, or maybe a couple of new things. Kendra would almost certainly notice something was up with him! Kendra looked in his direction and waved, recharting her direction directly at him. Seth recited his lies in his head he had conjured up earlier; no way was he getting caught and ratted out by Kendra.

“Hi Seth. I thought you were in your room. Where’d you go with all that stuff you’re carrying?” Kendra asked, she didn’t seem overly suspicious, but Seth wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Oh, I decided to sit by the border of the invisible boundaries and see if I could spot any dragons, it would have been cool to see a dragon up close without it paralyzing me and then gobbling me up.” Seth quipped; it sounded rehearsed but hopefully Kendra wouldn’t notice.

“You better not have crossed that border! You know that's practically suicide.” Kendra said irritatedly. She then glanced down at his arm, Seth’s stomach dropped, this was how he was going to get caught, Kendra would see his tattoo and then report him to Grandpa and then he would spend the rest of his life locked up in the hall of dread with Kendra coming to visit him every few years to tell him I told you so.

“Why are you hiding your arm?” She asked as she grabbed his wrist, twisting it to see his forearm.

“Wait!” Seth yelled, way too late.

“Jeez Seth, I thought you had hurt yourself or something, don’t act all suspicious like that next time.” Kendra stated, then she dropped his arm and walked away. Seth stood there for a minute. Could she not see the tattoo? How? it was right in front of her. Maybe it was like the invisible walls at Grunhold. That would mean he would be the only one able to see them! This was perfect, now he didn’t have to act all suspicious. If anyone asked him anything he could just tell them the same old lie he told Kendra. Seth had remembered what he had sensed when Kendra walked over. What was it? One kind of felt like a demon, but not like demon fear, Seth could just tell a demon had made the connection with Kendra. It felt sort of like a vouch that Kendra received from a demon, but he wasn’t sure. He also felt Kendra’s light and connection to the Fairy Queen, it was so obvious that Seth was perplexed on how he hadn’t noticed it earlier, it must have something to do with his new tattoo and sword. Seth thought more about it as he walked the short distance back to Blackwell Keep.

Seth scuttled into his room, threw his tote bag under his bed, and then flopped backwards onto his king-sized bed. He was mentally exhausted, and he knew he was going to have a long night ahead of him. Seth got fully dressed into his T-shirt and shorts he had been sleeping in the past few days, got in bed, and fell asleep to the chirping of birds outside his bedroom window.

Seth woke up to the sound of Kendra’s annoying voice yelling at him to wake up, he was having a really cool dream too about riding an awesome dragon.

“Seth get up, dinner is ready and we wouldn’t want you to go to bed starving, though it seems you’ve already slept a while today.” Kendra announced, then she slammed the door so hard Seth thought it would fly off the hinges.

Seth slowly peeled himself from his bed and then dragged himself downstairs, he was too lazy to get re-dressed just for dinner, so he decided to just deal with the embarrassment of his current attire. It was odd what Seth had now started to care about since he got a bit older, eleven-year-old Seth wouldn’t have cared a single bit about what he was wearing, as long as it was good for adventuring. Now Seth thought more about how others perceived him and how he dressed. Especially since many of the people he saw regularly were people who technically worked for him. He still didn’t care as much as most people. He regularly made a fool of himself just to embarrass Kendra by proxy; he still felt a sting when he said something stupid and no one laughed though, he couldn’t just brush it off like he used to.

Seth got down to the dining hall, and realized it was dead silent, like you could hear the hot foods sizzling type of quiet. Apparently, the meeting from the morning had completely drained everyone's social batteries. The spread of food was quite impressive to say the least, there were mash potatoes, roast potatoes, gravy, lamb, steamed vegetables, stuffing, and any dessert Seth could have dreamed of. The Brownies must have been hard at work all day; the normally sized staff surely couldn’t have made something this impressive. Seth sat down and hardly bothered to care about the deafening silence surrounding him, he didn’t want to talk to anyone about anything because he was afraid he was going to lie himself into a corner like last time. Seth piled as much food as humanly possible onto his plate, sampling everything, but his biggest portion by far were the mashed potatoes and gravy. I mean who could resist?

In the middle of his eating, he got a glimpse of his tattoo and froze, he had totally forgotten about it earlier. What if Kendra had recently developed an eye condition and everyone else in fact could see his tattoo. Seth peered up through his hair and looked around the table. Everyone was taking sidelong glances at him, but they were never at his arm. They were directly at his face and on their faces plainly displayed was, sadness? Fear? Seth didn’t care what it was he just wanted to get out of there. Seth hastily ate his first and second serving and then excused himself to go back to his room. He had so many questions for Buschgroßmutter later, especially on what the words on his arm meant. He supposed he could ask his mysterious partner in crime as well but that might be awkward in the context of their future situation. Seth set an alarm for 10pm on his vintage alarm clock, so he could get some rest and then some answers after that, he was also excited to try out his new sword and dagger but mostly the other focus in the mission, not that he knew what it was.

Seth rose briskly from his bed, he was still a bit tired from his bizarre sleeping schedule; but he was thrilled to finally go on this long-but not really long anticipated mission. He slammed his alarm clock off because the loud buzzing sound was starting to annoy him, he jumped out of bed and grabbed his emergency satchel out of his closet and filled it with all his “necessities” for his dangerous errand. He had all the items he had previously collected from his early life endeavours, and he shoved a few bandages he had found in the closet into the satchel, as well as binoculars and a whistle. He wasn’t sure what the whistle was for yet, but he found it in the closet, and he would find a way to use it one way or another.

Seth snuck out like he had many nights before and started the now dull trek all the way to Buschgroßmutter’s lair. He had now memorized the route and since he had done it many times before, it had lost its charm.

Seth walked into the vast cave, he looked around expecting to see Buschgroßmutter waiting for him outside her house like last time, but it looked like Seth would have to go into her house like the first time he had ever visited her. He strolled up to the large double doors, unlike last time, the doors didn’t open themselves, so Seth had to push open the heavy doors to get inside. Seth could feel Buschgroßmutter’s presence, she must had been lurking in the shadows of the house, because as soon as Seth looked back at the doors and then back in front of him again, she was standing right in front of him. She didn’t put him to sleep like last time though, so that was nice.

“Hello again Seth, I’m glad you came.” She said, she had a genuine smile on her face that Seth wanted to trust but knew he couldn’t.

“Hey, can you tell me the plan now? I’m still in the dark on what we’re actually doing tonight. Also, where's the person going with me?” Seth asked, he was a bit agitated that Buschgroßmutter didn’t bother to give him the specifics on where he was going and who he was going with, but he guessed in case the message got intercepted no one could read the contents of the letter. Even though only allies of the night could even see the raven in the first place, and even if they did somehow get the raven without seeing it, they still wouldn’t be able to read the letter.

“Tonight you will be entering Nachbildung von Schloss Lichtenstein in the sludgeholes and you will be retrieving Lowly Vatka’s apprentice also known as her son to enter the castle with you. After liberating the castle from the clutches of the light you will retrieve one specific artifact that you must get your hands on and whatever else you would like as your reward for your help.” She explained.

“So Nachbildung von Schloss Lichtenstein is a Castle? Also, what the hell are you talking about? I’ve never heard of this castle and I’m a caretaker! Surely, I would have heard about it by now.” Seth questioned, he was still confused even after that vague explanation. He wanted to know more about the artifact he had to now retrieve, the tattoo and his shapeshifting weapon. That was right! Seth had completely forgotten about that on his way here. Now he wanted answers.

“To be fair, you've only been caretakers for a few weeks at most. You probably don’t even know all the protected territories off the top of your head not to mention the leaders of them.” She remarked, smiling from ear to ear. Not even trying to hide her enjoyment at his arrogance. Seth felt a bit embarrassed now

“K, I guess it would make sense that I wouldn’t yet know much about the protected territories or whatever” Seth admitted defeatedly. Seth then started to ask some questions he really wanted to know the answers to.

“Do you know what this tattoo on my arm means? I know it says Raden Corporeal, but I don’t know what the context of that is.” Seth said while holding out his forearm in a way so that she could see the tattoo in its entirety. Buschgroßmutter looked down at Seth’s tattoo, her eyes widened as she was left speechless for a few moments.

“Seth... How did you get this tattoo?” She asked, sounding so astounded that Seth thought for a moment she had been struck by lightning.

“I was in the battlement type building on the edge of the Blackwell Keep area and a sword started calling out to me. Maybe? I think it was the sword talking, anyways, when I picked it up it inscribed my name on itself and then the tattoo suddenly appeared on my arm. Not a very convenient place for something you would want to hide.” Seth recited, he was hoping Buschgroßmutter could answer his questions about what this all meant.

“Seth, can you show me this sword you’re talking about?” She asked, sounding just as astounded as earlier but seemed a bit more focused.

“I can try.” Seth stated flatly. He was unsure if he could transform his ring back into the sword again but if she needed to see it, he was glad to attempt the task. Seth slid his ring off his finger and focused his attention on it, imagining it transforming into the same sword that he had found earlier that day. Fortunately for Seth, the ring transformed in his hand quite easily; now resting as a beautiful sword. Seth held it out for Buschgroßmutter to grab and analyze herself.

She took the sword, looking it up and down and hyper focusing on his engraved name across the blade.

“Seth, this sword claimed you.” She exclaimed, seeming to gain some energy and wore an excited and pleased expression.

“Well, what does that mean? Do I just get to keep this sword and tattoo now? Did me and the sword swap names?” Seth inquired. Seth thought that maybe the sword’s name was Raden Corporeal, and part of claiming it was the swapping of names.

“Yes and no. You may keep the sword and tattoo but that’s not what those words represent. Raden Corporeal is now your title instead of shadow charmer, it means Physical Noble.” She clarified.

“Physical Noble? Aren’t all nobles physical? I don’t get it; and how does it replace my original title?” Seth probed. Seth didn’t understand what she was talking about at all.

“No, you have it all wrong. Corporeal is in reference to how you relate to the physical world and not the spiritual or the shadow one. Raden or noble is in reference to your rank within the Underworld ruled over by the Underking. A shadow charmer is basically comparable to a Fairy Struck person, but a Raden Corporeal is on the same level as someone who is Fairykind, like your sister is. The sword speaks for the will of the Underking and chooses one who is worthy, just like how Kendra drinking the concoction and the fairies sharing their magic with her made her Fairykind.” She elaborated, finally being clear enough to get the idea across to Seth.

Seth took a moment to take it all in, he wanted to make sure he fully understood what Buschgroßmutter said.

“So I’m the Underking’s handmaiden?”

“...”

“I supposed you could put it that way, yah.” She confirmed, laughing a bit as she said so.

“So, do I have to do something extra because of it? Do I gain new powers?” Seth excitedly asked, obviously he was more excited for the second answer then the first one, but he felt a bit of fear about if he would have to do a bunch of extra work or whatever.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never met anyone with that title. Though I do expect that you’ll gain stronger versions of your current powers along with countless other new ones.” Buschgroßmutter admitted.

“Anyways, I suppose I should tell you more about your mission you’ll be leaving for swiftly. You’ll take my trusty steed all the way to the sludgeholes, where you’ll pick up the Warlock otherwise known as Lowly Vatlka’s son. You’ll both ride on the steed to the castle where you’ll undo the defences of the Fairy Kingdom encasing the castle which were meant to hide away the powerful artifacts from the residents of the sludgeholes. Then you’ll find and take an artifact that looks like a mini dark green planet with rings floating around it, almost like a mini green Saturn. You can take whatever other artifacts you want from the castle, then you’ll both leave the castle, drop of the Warlock with Lowly Vatka, then come back to me and give me the artifact. In case you’re curious, the artifact I want can express fear of demons or at least what people would feel in the presence of a demon, it’s quite powerful. After you hand over the artifact you should go home and hide whatever you find as best as you can. Also don’t forget to use your sword, it chose you for a reason.” She disclosed.

“Okay perfect, I’ve memorized what I need to do, where’s this trusty steed you speak about?” Seth pried. Behind Buschgroßmutter the raven from earlier popped out and stood staring at Seth with its dark eyes.

“Riven will take you where you need to go, take him and you’ll see what he can do.” She said while pointing at the raven slightly behind her. Seth laughed.

“Riven the raven is going to take me to the sludgeholes and back? I don’t know if that’ll work.” Seth said with a chuckle, surely Buschgroßmutter didn’t think Seth was a nipsie? He was only a few inches shorter than her, and she was a demon so that isn’t even a fair comparison!

“Go outside and find out” Buschgroßmutter said while backing into the shadows, Seth felt her presence evaporate so he assumed the conversation was over. Guess it was up to him now. Seth looked at Riven and asked,

“Do you know the way there and back?”

Riven nodded.

“Well let’s get going then.” He said with a sigh, he felt like his journey there might take a while.

Seth walked out of the cave with Riven tailing closely behind. He paused near where to he could go back on the path because he realized Riven might not be able to use the main roads, but he had been in the bounds of Blackwell Keep so maybe he could? He looked over at where he thought Riven the raven was standing but then noticed a massive black stallion standing there instead. Seth paused in wonder and stared at the mysterious horse, where had Riven gone? Then Seth realized what should have been obvious.

“Are you Riven?” He spoke to the horse, the horse nodded and kneeled onto the ground to allow Seth to hop on his back. Seth happily obliged and attempted to balance as the large version of Riven stood up. Riven started to trot through the trees in the opposite direction of Blackwell Keep, and making sure to avoid the protected roads.

“So I guess you can’t go on the main roads.” Seth said more to himself then to his companion. Riven gave him a quick nod.

“Can you go on the protected areas of Blackwell Keep?” Riven shook his head.

“But you can go inside the battlement on the edge of the property” Riven nodded his head.

“So the battlement is neutral territory?” Riven shook his head. Seth was confused now.

“You can go in the battlement even though its within Blackwell Keep?” Riven nodded.

“So as long as you stay in the battlement you get all the same protections as someone in Blackwell Keep without ever having to get admitted as a guest?” Riven nodded. Seth wished him and his friends knew about that fact when they came through Wyrmoost when they were looking for the dragon temple. Seth flinched as he thought about his friends and family that he was now betraying the interest of, though he was confident and believed what and who he was helping was right. Before Seth could think any more on the subject they popped out into a large prairie devoid of all visible life. Riven started to gallop as fast as he could and Seth had to grab on to his mane to balance himself and not fall in a painful position.

Their ride was pretty uneventful other than the occasional rustling sound, but it was never long enough to worry Seth, and he also assumed Riven could sense if something was truly off or dangerous.

After a long while of being jostled around on Rivens's back Seth saw a swamp-looking forest up ahead. There were beautiful small beads of light resembling fireflies lighting up a way being carved through the trees. The trees moved themselves to allow Seth and Riven a path into the dark forest and the trees closed behind them as they went further into the dense foliage. Seth didn’t think he had ever seen anything quite like those trees, though he got the vibe that if they weren’t welcome, they wouldn’t be able to enter so easily. Riven slowed to a trot again as they moved along the path, noticing how the trees got thicker and taller as they went deeper. Seth started to notice treehouses surrounding the upper part of the trunks, connected by hanging bridges. The treehouses were beautifully crafted and seemed like the larger version of something fairies would live in, though they had a dark and more mystic feel to them. There were even random platforms connected as well by the bridges, though Seth couldn’t see what was on them, too high up.

Behind them the forest stopped advancing and immediately after he heard the voices of something that could only be the sounds of civilization. Seth realized the trees must be some sort of spell keeping the people safe inside and anything unwanted outside. As the treehouses became more obvious and grew in numbers, Seth spotted the widest trunk of a tree he’d seen yet, and a winding staircase going up along the sides of it, connected to the largest platform of the tree village. At least Seth now knew his method of getting up, he was glad that the village seemed safe and since he was an ally of the night, he assumed that they wouldn’t see him as a threat, hopefully.

Riven kneeled again and let Seth down Infront of the staircase, seeming to not want to go up himself. He nudged Seth forward with his head to signal that he needed to go up alone. Hopefully he could find Lowly Vatka and her son quickly because he had the feeling an hour or two had already gone by.

Seth crept further towards the stairs then took one last look at Riven before scaling them upwards. It took him a while to reach the large circular platform but when he did, he was out of breath, he was used to physical activity, but man was that hard. When Seth looked around at the contents of the platform, he was shocked, it looked like a nice outdoor restaurant, likely themed like a dark tavern. All the trolls, goblins, witches plus warlocks all paused and looked at him. Seth stood staring back, he had forgotten that no one here probably knew he was coming. Hopefully Vatka could vouch for him. Though he had no idea what she looked like, he just knew she was their leader. Seth spotted an old frail woman and a boy walking in his direction. After everyone glanced at their relaxed posture they all went back to talking, eating, and drinking as before.

“Hello young man, I assume you are here to retrieve my son for your mission.” The old woman observed. Seth assumed this was Vatka. Seth looked over at the boy, noticing how he seemed to be similar in age to him, maybe 15 or 16?

“Yes, I'm here to collect your son for the mission. You’re Lowly Vatka right?” Seth questioned, he didn’t want to assume and get it wrong, that would be embarrassing.

“Yes, though you can call me Vatka if it fits, and this is my son Oberon. He is the warlock you should have been informed about.” She explained.

A silence rang out between the three, Seth was unsure of whose turn it was to speak.

“Alright, I’ll leave you two to it.” She declared as she turned around and walked away. An awkward silence fell between the two boys.

“We should go back to my hut; I need to gather my things before we head out. Follow me.” He stammered slightly, seeming to be a bit shy. Seth assumed he wasn’t fully accustomed to talking to outsiders of this village. Oberon was about the same height as Seth, standing at about 5’7. He had olive brown skin and if Seth were to guess he would say potentially indigenous to North America. He had long jet-black hair that he let fall loosely past his shoulders and seemed to frame his face nicely, he also seemed to be a bit more muscular than Seth but still lean. He wore an outfit that was almost exactly the same as Seth’s, he wore dark cargo shorts and a brown polo with black hiking boots as well, he seemed to be dressed a bit different then all the other people here.

They walked through the platform in the opposite direction of which they came; Seth took notice to the diverse members of the village. This was a place for everyone that wasn’t welcome elsewhere. They reached a bridge and walked across it swiftly, Seth was enjoying the thrill he got from being so high up, he hadn’t felt like this since he had to climb the pillars at Nero’s lair. Oberon and Seth started getting closer to a large group of huts in a sort of ring each facing each other but attached to their own tree, each hut also seemed to have their own deck surrounding their hut, which connected them to the other platforms via bridges and a circular platform in the middle.

“So... you live in this ring formation? Is this basically a mini neighbourhood?” Seth asked, hoping Oberon would open up a bit, Seth could feel anxiety radiating off of him, and he didn’t want it to be this awkward the whole mission.

“Yah, there's a ton of these neighbourhoods all over the village, there usually relatively close to the stores and other places like that, but there are some other ones farther out as well. I like being close to the centre of everything.” He simply put. Seth wasn’t surprised at the court answer, but he was surprised at the fact that Oberon wanted to be close to the centre of everything, seemed a bit out of character to Seth, but he guessed he didn’t actually know him that well.

Each hut had their own bit of individuality, some had statues, some had wind chimes or other trinkets, some were even painted different colours. Seth and Oberon crossed to the centre platform connecting all the huts, and then they started towards a hut that had tons of flowers in large or hanging pots, and a rope swing connected to a thick branch hanging over the hut. There were also a bunch of fireflies circling around the roof, lighting it up beautifully in the dark atmosphere of the village during the night. The hut was made of the same dark wood as the rest of the village, which Seth assumed were from the trees the village was hanging on, and the roof was made of dark stone that glistened from the reflections of the fireflies in the sky.

They reached the door of the hut, Oberon put out his hand, and it glowed slightly red then the door swung open, Seth assumed it was some sort of magical lock. They walked in and Seth looked around at the cozily decorated hut, not what he expected a Warlock to live in at all. It was decorated with fancy red tapestry and tons of pillows on the large couch in the corner, there was also a loft where Seth assumed Oberon slept. Underneath the loft was a tall cabinet, Oberon opened the cabinet and grabbed a backpack, an army knife, and a ton of potions, Seth could recognize a lot of them from previous use but couldn’t put a name to them.

“You can make potions?” Seth questioned, he didn’t know that warlocks or witches bothered to learn potions.

“Yep, most of the people here know the basics but I take an interest in them. The art of potions was created by a famous witch.” He explained. Seth was glad he added extra details. Maybe they could become friends, Seth didn’t really know anyone his age other than his sister but that doesn’t really count.

“Oh, I had no idea. The only person I know who can make potions is a regular person so I didn’t really put that together.”

Oberon closed the cabinet and they started to walk out of the hut, he locked it behind them then they made their way back to the main platform, and then down the spiraling staircase. Riven was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, his horse form eating some grass from a nearby bush.

Riven kneeled again to allow Seth to hop on his back, Oberon hopped on right behind him.

“Do you know the way to the castle?” Oberon asked Riven. Riven nodded his head and then cantered farther into the forest once again, keeping an even pace to avoid smashing into any trees or causing one of his riders to fall off.

“Uh. Could you run the plan over to me? I know what we have to do but I don’t actually know how were going to do it.” Oberon stated shyly.

“To be honest I don’t really have a plan, I heard something about protections or like a barrier we have to break and the artifact we have to collect as well, but no directions on how to achieve that.” Seth admitted, he was hoping that Oberon had a plan.

An Awkward silence lingered for a few moments as they rode further into the forest.

“Guess we’ll just have to wing it then!” Seth declared. He had a feeling that this mission was going to be extra fun.

Riven took them into an open area surrounded by trees, with hundreds of sludgeholes covering the ground.

“Is this why this territory is called the sludgeholes? I’m surprised we didn’t run into any earlier, I thought this place was like entirely sludgeholes because of the name.” Seth asked Oberon curiously.

“Yes, once you enter the forest it will decide if you are a friend or foe then react accordingly. If it deems, you’re a friend it’ll let you through a clean and dry path. If you are deemed a foe, it’ll lead you through a bunch of sludgeholes and a dense swamp before you can find the village. Though if you ride deep enough, no matter what you’ll run into sludgeholes and the swamp eventually.” Oberon voiced.

“Oh, I had heard about this place from Agad, I just assumed it was some sort of wasteland.” Seth replied. He honestly had not put much thought into it, but when he did, he hadn’t pictured this.

Riven dodged the sludgeholes by slowing down and taking care of where he stepped, though it took much longer than it should have, almost 20 minutes to cross the covered area! This mission had already taken two or three hours, and they hadn’t even laid eyes on the castle yet, they had to pick up the pace, or he wouldn’t be back by sunrise.

Luckily for Seth, they saw the large castle after a few more minutes of weaving between densely placed trees. That part of the forest was rather swampy, so it was still hard for Riven to go quickly towards their destination. Seth realized the castle was the exact same style, colour, and material as the battlement back at Blackwell Keep, and it had crumbling walls that looked like they used to be connected to another part of the castle. Maybe the battlement back at Blackwell Keep used to be connected to it, it seemed like it might fit. But how would they have transported the battlement that far? Magic maybe?

Riven stopped just outside of the large castle, letting them off to attempt to enter this “protected” castle. Seth could feel the light spells seeping off the castle’s walls, warding off anything that fell to the dark side of the scale. Seth presumed that the only reason him and Oberon would be able to get inside is because they were mortal therefor, they could enter any territory they wanted but could still face the wrath of what they meet inside. Though they were unsure how to proceed, a large portcullis stood in front of them, being much too large for them to move with magic or sheer strength. Seth started scanning the walls of the castle, surely there was another way in this place!

Seth eyes wandered and then landed on a window opening at double his height. That was going to be their way inside.

“Oberon, look.” Seth pointed out, he wanted Oberon to boost him up into the window so he could inside and then find a way to get Oberon inside the castle’s walls as well. They both walked up against the wall directly under the window. Oberon got down on one knee, bracing to boost Seth up and in through the window.

“Are you ready?” Oberon urged, clearly wanting to get this over with.

“You know it.” Seth chirped, a mischievous smile spreading across his face.

1...

2...

3!..

Seth ran up and jumped onto Oberon’s knee, then got flung upwards close enough to grab the edge of the opening. His fingers started to slip.

“Quick, push me up higher!” Seth pleaded, he knew falling from that height would hurt, and he didn’t have the time for meaningless injuries. Oberon ran over and gave Seth’s feet such a hard boost upwards that Seth somersaulted through the window and landed awkwardly in a pile on the floor.

Seth got up and gave a quick stretch, trying to soothe the aching in his back before looking for a way to get Oberon up. He looked around the hallway, trying to catch something of good use. He noticed a long and skinny tablecloth draped over a long table housing all sorts of decorations. Seth ran up to the table and ripped the tablecloth out from on top of it, all the decorations fell and clanged to the ground after Seth’s quick maneuver. He had the bright idea to pull Oberon up the wall and into the castle, hopefully he was strong enough. Seth threw one side of the tablecloth outside and held on tight to the other.

Seth felt a weight added to the tablecloth and knew it was time to start pulling. At first, he barely got Oberon off the ground before falling to the ground. He had forgotten the serious physical disadvantage of pulling someone who is heavier than you up a window, because he had clearly been in this position multiple times before. Seth needed something to connect the tablecloth to, to fully retrieve Oberon. Seth spotted a sturdy looking lamp next to the window and quickly threw it over for leverage, then he grabbed the heaviest decorations he could find to counteract the weight he was pulling. Seth sat on the ground as he used all of his might to pull Oberon up the window, putting it through the mount of the lamp, he made steady progress before he steadily grew more and more tired. Just before Oberon could reach for the window Seth had lost the majority of his strength, but he realized he had more then just his physical strength to help him. He searched himself for his power once again, then moved that power to encompass his body, he gave one last pull and flung Oberon into the building. He rolled a bit before piling in a head tangled in the tablecloth.

Oberon and Seth burst out laughing, they had realized how stupid that probably looked. After they had calmed down a bit and Seth had helped Oberon get untangled, they took in their surroundings. Seth could see yellow ghostly cords covering the floor going as far as he could either way.

“Can you see those cords as well?” Seth inquired, he hoped Oberon could see them as well so all the pressure wasn’t on him.

“Yep, we should follow where they lead to, they’re probably part of the warding spell.” He articulated, him and Seth started walking down the right side of the hallway, making sure to follow the paths of the ghostly cords. They took many turns down multiple hallways before they reached a door that a few of the cords went under. Seth and Oberon hesitated before entering, they hoped there wasn’t some sort of fight waiting for them behind the looming door. Seth took off his ring and transformed it into his sword, and Oberon took out his knife, they whispered a countdown of three before slamming the door wide open and taking a defensive position at the entrance. But fortunately for them no one was there, they followed the cords from out and under their feet to a pedestal the middle of the otherwise empty room.

“Guess they didn’t expect anyone to make it this far.” Oberon stated flatly. He took a cord into his hand and attempted to cut it with his army knife, but it just went straight through it.

“What the hell, how are we meant to cut these things?” Oberon asked irritatedly, they were running out of time and needed to sort this out quickly. Seth then had a genius idea, he took the cord from Oberon’s hand and took his own blade to it, he knew this sword had some type of dark properties, hopefully it would be enough to counteract the light radiating off of the cords. Seth pushed the blade through and the cord burst into flames, completely disintegrating in his hands. Seth quickly grabbed the rest of the cords and cut through them with a single slice.

Seth felt the warding spell weaken, it was working!

“We better go find the rest of the where the cords lead quickly, I need to get back to Blackwell Keep or else Kendra will probably find my bed empty when she goes to wake me up in the morning.” Seth said while they both bolted down the hallways. Seth suddenly stopped running, he had a realization. He sliced his sword through the cords on the floor. The majority of the cords burnt up to a crisp. Seth couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that earlier, why would he even need to find the rooms if the cords were right under his feet?

“Nice thinking, I feel stupid now that I hadn’t thought of that earlier.” Oberon admitted.

“Thanks! It’s fine, I didn’t realize until now. Seth said as he looked down at the remaining cords, they didn’t seem to break even with using his sword. They would have to find the room these ones come out of.

Seth and Oberon began jogging down the halls, following the trail of the cords. After a solid minute of their continuous jogging, they came up to some very large doors, where the cords had snaked under.

Seth and Oberon each pushed one door open and braced for a fight. Nothing happened, the room was practically pitch black and they couldn’t see the cords anymore. They walked farther into the room, hoping to find a lamp or torch. Once they took four steps and were completely inside the room, the doors slammed closed and they both sat in complete darkness for a second.

“Seth?..” He heard someone whisper, he went towards the voice quietly and reached out, and touched an outreached arm.

“Seth I swear if that isn’t you, I’m going to freak out.” He heard again, Seth laughed.

“Lets try to find a torch, the dark will make it hard to find the cords.” Seth said sill laughing. Oberon and Seth walked deeper into the room, desperate to find some source of light. They were holding each other tight in order to not lose the other, Seth wasn’t going to admit it but he was a bit scared, being attacked by something in the dark would not be ideal. They both bumped into something, maybe a pedestal? Seth reached out on top of it and felt a button, after a moment of hesitation he pressed down on it.

The whole room lit up immediately. Seth blinked hard trying to get his eyes to adjust. Once his eyes adjusted to the blinding lights he looked around, about one metre out from the wall the floor disappeared, transforming into a frightening drop down who knows how far.

“Imagine we had fallen down there while we were stumbling around in the dark? That would have been a bad way to die.”

Seth agreed, he imagined falling to his death would be super painful and not cool at all. Three pairs of hands appeared out of the abyss, reaching up and pulling themselves upwards. Once they made their way completely up and out of the hole, Seth realized they were three massive knights, maybe three metres tall? One knight had a sword; another knight had a lasso that appeared to be made out of the same material as the cords were, and the last knight held a massive scythe. The knight with the lasso flung it directly at them, obviously meaning to grab them. Seth and Oberon dodged out of the way, rolling to opposite sides. Then immediately after the scythe knight jumped directly at Seth, swinging it directly at his head, attempting to behead him! Seth fell to his back, trying to avoid becoming headless. Seth got up again and hacked the knights arm off with his sword.

Seth looked over to find how Oberon was doing and discovered that Oberon was holding up a forcefield encompassing around two metres of space, that seemed to be made of red crystal. The knight with the sword was doing his best to shatter the shield but only managed to shave a bit off every swing. Seth ran at the knight and hacked his wielding arm off with one quick strike. Seth liked how sharp his new sword was, it was clearly quite powerful, and he was thankful it was now his. Seth turned around and spotted the scythe knight halfway through his jump towards Seth. Seth felt a hand behind him pull him backwards, then the same forcefield he had seen earlier appeared around him. Because of the knight's momentum, he shaved off more than the sword knight ever had, but not enough to crack it.

“How the hell did his arm grow back? I just cut it off!” Seth yelled. How were they meant to beat things that regrow their limbs almost immediately?

“Look over at the sword knight, his arm is growing back, guess they don’t need much time to regrow. I don’t think most of our spells will affect them because of their metal armour, they must not be sentient either or else they wouldn’t be very good guards. I have no idea how we’ll beat them before they kill us first.” Oberon sighed, clearly, he wasn’t being very optimistic about the whole thing. The sword knight rejoined the other knight in attempting to demolish their only protection.

“There has to be some way to defeat them!” Seth muttered. He had noticed that the lasso knight stayed oddly far away from them but that was probably just because he had a ranged weapon.

The crystal force field shattered, and Oberon rolled to the side to avoid the lasso coming their way. Seth was not so lucky or quick. The lasso wrapped around him, and he was flung to the side, he let go of his sword and it landed in the middle of the room somewhere. The lasso let go of him and he rolled dangerously close to the endless drop. Seth got to his feet quickly, watching all three knights to avoid whatever else came his way.

“Seth I got it!” Oberon yelled at him across the room while dodging the relentless attacks from the sword knight.

“Tell me quick before you get your head chopped off and I have to figure it out myself!” Seth yelled back. The scythe knight jumped at him once again and he rolled away from the looming swing of the long weapon.

“The reason we don’t see the cords on the floor anymore is because a knight is holding them, that’s why he's standing so far away from us!”

“Huh?”

“Seth, the lasso is the thing we need to destroy not the knights. Destroy the lasso!” Oberon yelled, he was running out of room to maneuver, Seth needed to do this fast. Seth realized he no longer had his sword, it was behind the looming knight walking to him now. He ran away, or not away, but towards the knight with the lasso. He had no sword, but he knew he didn’t need it. Once he was in a close enough range, he shot his hand in the direction of the knight, and burning hot purple flames shot out of his palm. Once the flames dissipated, he realized the knight was no longer holding the cord. It must have been destroyed by the flames! All the knights stopped moving and froze, and then then crumbled to dust. Once the scythe and the sword knights were fully disintegrated, he could see five bracelets in one pile of dust, and a black lyre in the other.

“How did you that?” Oberon asked as he jogged over to Seth.

“I don’t know, I didn’t know I could.” Seth mumbled, seeming to zone out. Seth snapped out of it, he needed to get give Buschgroßmutter the artifact and then get back to the Keep as soon as he could.

“Let's get the artifacts and then get out of here, we don’t need to wait around to get attacked by something new.” Seth added. They walked over to the nearest pile of dust, and saw five bracelets in it. Seth picked them up and studied them further, they were made of black, enchanted feeling rope and they had differently coloured beads weaved in between. One was green, anther was red, and the last three were orange, blue, and yellow, all the beads seemed to glow as well. Seth slipped the green one on his wrist and handed Oberon the red one, he put his on as well. Oberon walked over to the other pile of dust and Seth realized how tired he really was. Fighting for your life this early in the morning should be illegal. Seth wished he could just teleport to wear Oberon was now standing next to the artifact and pile of dust.

Seth blinked and noticed something, his surroundings had shifted slightly.

“What the hell! How did you get over here so fast?" Oberon shouted, standing directly next to Seth.

“It must be the bracelets! We must be able to teleport ourselves to each other while we’re wearing the bracelets!” Seth realized out loud.

“Seth go run over there. I want to try it out!” Oberon instructed. Seth ran a few metres away from him. Feeling newly invigorated from their new discovery. Oberon suddenly appeared in front of him.

“This is amazing.” Seth declared. He noticed Oberon’s bracelet was no longer glowing.

“Wait, I want to try it again.” Oberon shouted as he was now farther away once again.

Oberon stood there for a second, not moving anywhere.

“It’s not working, maybe its a one time use?” Oberon questioned.

“Let me try something.” Seth said. He teleported over to where Oberon stood and then touched his bracelet, it began glowing again.

“Try it now”

Oberon appeared on the other side of him.

“You must have some ability to recharge artifacts.” Oberon remarked. Seth remembered what Buschgroßmutter had told him about his new title, it came with new abilities. This one must resemble Kendra's ability to recharge magical artifacts.

“Yah, I just found that out myself.”

“We better get out of here.” Oberon suggested. Seth agreed, they went back to grab the other artifact, Seth quickly touched the lyre quickly to recharge it, then allowed Oberon to put it in his backpack.

“Do you want to keep the rest of the bracelets?” Oberon asked him.

“No, it would make more sense for you to keep it. I would need to hide it somewhere.” Seth responded.

“Okay, let’s get out of here.”

Seth transformed his sword back into a rand and put it back on his finger. Then they walked out of the castle unchallenged and dropped out of the window they had entered through. Seth wished it was a bit lower to the ground; his ankles were now a bit sore. They hopped back on Riven and rode all the way back to the tree village, they dropped of Oberon and he gave Seth the lyre back to deliver back to Buschgroßmutter. He told Seth to visit soon, Seth said he would. They rode the way back to Buschgroßmutter’s lair, the trees letting them through like they had before. When they made it back to her lair he quickly dropped of the artifact and greeted her and then swiftly said goodbye. Riven gave him a ride back to the boundary of Blackwell Keep. Then Riven transformed back into a Raven and flew away.

Seth tiredly walked into the building and all the way up to his room it must have been five in the morning by then. Seth then opened the door to an audience. Kendra, Stan, Ruth, Tanu, Bracken, Vanessa and Warren all stood in his room. Seth knew this couldn't be good. He could hear his heartbeat in his chest.

“Come in Seth, we need to talk.” Bracken said calmly, with his signature smile on his face that said it will all be okay. But Seth knew he had an amazing poker face.

Seth walked further into his room, his anxiety increasing with each step. He stood in the middle of the room with everyone facing towards him. He scanned everyone's face, everyone looked remorseful but also serious, like they were dealing with a threat. Kendra looked like she was about to burst into tears. Seth heard the door close behind him and swung his head around to see Agad and Camarat standing next to the door, great like this couldn’t get any worse. Seth turned his head back and nervously waited for Bracken to say something again.

“Seth, we know where you were this morning, and what you did. Calvin has been following you ever since you snuck out to see that demon, and I talked to the luvian through telepathy, and he told us about where you actually hid when you guys were attacked that day.” Bracken explained, his smile had left his face, but he was still relatively calm looking. Seth stared back at him; no words could leave him mouth.

“We brought Agad back to be reinstated as full Caretaker when the treaty allows, though since you committed treason against the Keep, he rightfully took your place as the second caretaker.”

...

“We will bring you back to Fablehaven, you’ll stay in a cell in the dungeon, and we’ll do our best to find a way to remove your powers.” He explained, still remaining calm but had a hint of anger in his eyes.

“After that we’ll decide as a collective on what we will do with you. Stan has already removed your position as a knight of the dawn.”

“Seth, please tell me this isn’t true, that you’ve actually been framed or blackmailed?” Kendra urged, tears started to fall down her face.”

“I knew you becoming a Shadow Charmer was bad news, I should have done something about it sooner. Now you’ve been influenced by demons.” Grandpa said with sadness in his eyes. Seth had nothing to say, he wanted to say they were all wrong, and that the demons had made him do it; but he knew that wasn’t true, or what he believed anyways. He took a pause; he needed to say something to Kendra.

“It’s all true, Kendra. I freed the castle, and I visited that demon multiple times, she even taught me more about my powers.” Seth explained with a sigh.

“Seth how could you do this?” Kendra shrieked as she sobbed.

“Seth I can feel something different about your powers, tell me what happened.” Bracken asked, his calm demeanor returned. He knew there was nothing he could do to get out of this, all the exits were blocked. Seth remained deathly silent, afraid that he would start weeping if he looked or said anything to Kendra again.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Bracken said as he pulled something out from behind him. Two white manacles that Seth could feel were enchanted with light spells appeared in his hands.

“Give me the artifact, and then I’ll put you in these to make sure you don’t do something you regret. Then we’ll leave for Fablehaven.” He explained. Walking towards Seth slowly.

“Seth please don’t fight this; we’re trying to help you.” Kendra pleaded, her face was covered in tears and now Grandma was hugging and consoling her. Seth took a moment to decide what to do. He decided he was going to do the right thing. Seth looked over at Kendra.

“Don’t worry Kendra, I won’t.” Seth said, smiling regretfully.

His stomach turned as he teleported away, landing in Oberon’s hut. Oberon noticed he had teleported and turned around towards him.

“Oh, hey. I didn’t expect you to visit so soon.”

Seth dropped to his knees and began to cry. His heart felt heavy, but he knew he had done what was necessary.

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