Dreamer's Throne

Garrett had been aware that the city had a thriving black market, and even during his days in the palace, word of the dark deals cut in the underbelly had reached his ears. Seeing it with his own eyes, however, was a completely different thing. The main area of the so-called underground was a multi story spiral with suspended platforms that extended from the ascending ramp, causing the shops on each platform to look like a set of stairs that rose from the sewer floor up six stories to the domed ceiling. As the group made their way up toward the top, they passed all sorts of shops, each nicer than the last. All sorts of things were displayed for sale, though for most of the stores, it took Garrett a moment or two to figure out what they sold.

That was especially true for the shops selling slaves. Each had a number of good looking men and women lounging on couches scattered around their shop, with heavily armored guards standing nearby. Though highly illegal, slavery wasn’t completely unheard of, and here in the underground, where practically anything could be bought, the only law was the amount of coin a person had. Garrett could tell which of the men and women were slaves from the blank look in their eyes and the way Ryn bristled when they got close, and with an impulse born of mild curiosity, he sent a dream seed floating toward one of them.

The ethereal seed, invisible to everyone but Garrett, drifted across the distance to a young man sitting blankly on the end of a couch and sank into his head, settling into the slave’s mind. There was already a strong mental energy brand in the slave’s mind, which explained the lack of collar or chains, as well as the faintly hollow look in the young man’s eyes. Rather than have the dream seed bloom right away, Garrett let it stay dormant as they passed by, continuing to climb up toward the top of the underground market. He wasn’t sure what he would do with the dormant dream seed, but before he could decide, his attention was drawn away.

They had just arrived at the next level, which was comprised of a wide circle of shops, all of which were connected, making a large ring. These shops were much more ornate than anything he had seen before, but what was most eye-catching were the twelve foot tall monsters chained up in the center of the platform on either side of the stairs that led to the top level. Humanoid, with limbs thick with muscle, they glared at everyone who came close from a single bloodshot eye in the center of their foreheads. Broken teeth gnashed behind rubbery lips that dribbled drool as they gnawed on the bones of a large creature. Each of their hands had three thick fingers with heavy nails and as Garrett watched, one of them casually snapped a bone that was as thick as a warrior’s arm so it could suck the marrow out.

“Are those…”

“Trolls?” Ryn said quietly, finishing Garrett’s question. “Yes.”

“Aren’t they quite dangerous? Why are they chained here?”

Before Ryn could answer, Garrett noticed a well dressed man walking over. A haughty look on his face made him instantly unlikeable, and the words that came out of his mouth did nothing to assuage the feeling.

“You are Cynen? Of the Grave Walker gang? You’re late. The council is waiting for you.”

Stopping, Cynen turned her head toward the haughty man, but didn’t say anything. Instead, it was Gale who spoke up, stepping up to fix him with a hard glare.

“Fix your tone when talking to my boss or I’ll have your tongue.”

Unimpressed by the threat, the man just sneered and gestured to the stairs.

“If you even think about touching me, you’ll be ripped limb from limb. Just crawl upstairs and hope that the council doesn’t feel like feeding you to the trolls.”

Gale’s hand dropped to his sword, but Cynen stopped him with a raised hand. She still had her head turned toward the haughty man, as if she was staring straight at him through the thick strip of black cloth that covered her eyes. After a moment of silence, she nodded and walked toward the stairs, leading her men. While all of this was going on, Garrett had the chance to look around a bit more, and had noticed that what he originally thought were stores were actually not stores at all, but instead were one large establishment. Scattered around the platforms were small groups of gang members who were all surreptitiously watching Cynen and the Grave Walkers to see what was going to happen.

As they got closer to the stairs in the center of the platform, the two trolls who were chained up on either side of the door straightened, their singular eyes fixed on the approaching gang leader. One of them let out a roar and surged forward, its large hand stretching out to try and grab at Cynen. She didn’t react, but the others around her couldn’t help but take a wary step back, causing faint laughter to ripple across the watching gangs. Brought up short by the thick chain that was connected to a metal collar on its neck, the troll let out another roar and strained to extend its hand a bit further. Both of the trolls could easily reach the stairs, making it impossible to climb up the stairs while avoiding them, forcing the Grave Walkers to keep their distance.

Realizing that they had walked into a test designed to humiliate them, Garrett’s eyes rose to the top of the stairs, where a group of young men and women were watching them with amused looks. It was clear to him that this situation had been created to kill any momentum that the Grave Walkers had before the council convened, but rather than be upset, Garrett was amused. It was a silly game, and though it appeared to be effective on the surface, could easily be reversed. Standing just outside of the troll’s reach, Cynen turned her head and spoke to her men.

“Find a place to relax until the end of the meeting.”

Relieved that they wouldn’t have to face the trolls, her men quickly retreated, leaving Garrett, Ryn, and Abbius still standing behind her. The guard that Garrett had brought hadn’t even flinched in front of the trolls, despite the fact that either of the monsters could snap him into pieces with a single finger. Instead, he had just lifted the crossbow he carried in the crook of his arm, his attention firmly fixed on the eye in the center of the troll’s forehead. If it so much as started to break free, Garrett knew it would find a powerful crossbow bolt planted in the center of its forehead in the next moment.

“Abbius, you can retreat as well.”

“Alright. Just call if you need help,” Abbius said, his eyes rising to sweep across the young men and women watching from up above before he stepped back.

Now it was just Garrett, Ryn, and Cynen facing the stairs, and though he wasn’t worried at all, Garrett could feel Ryn’s tension from the way that she gripped the handles of the wheelchair. Both of the trolls, though not quite in the Shaper level, were clearly strong enough to crush most awakened into paste with a casual swat of their hands, so the thought of threading the staircase between them was clearly weighing on her.

“You don’t need to be concerned,” Garrett said quietly, causing Ryn to relax slightly.

The troll who was reaching for Cynen let out another angry roar, spittle and drool flying toward her as it strained against the collar, but faint flames appeared, burning away the saliva before it touched her. At the same time, she took a step forward, her expression calm. Prompted by its sharp survival instinct, the troll suddenly retreated, not wanting to let the flames touch its finger. With the way clear, Cynen led Garrett and Ryn toward the stairs, but as soon as her foot hit the bottom stair, the other troll suddenly drew its arm back and hurled a bone toward them.

The throw was quick, but not so quick that Garrett didn’t catch the faint flare of mental energy on the collar it wore. Rather than heading toward Cynen, it was coming for him, causing Ryn to exclaim and quickly pull his chair back, getting out of the way of the spinning projectile. Her retreat took her within reach of the other troll however, who lunged forward again, reaching out with its two massive hands to try and grab her. For the briefest moment, Ryn seemed like she was going to activate one of her abilities to slip away, but at the last second she didn’t, seemingly afraid that doing so would expose Garrett.

Everything had happened so quickly that there wasn’t even time for the watching crowd to react, but there were two figures who managed to intervene. The first was Abbius, who fired his shot without lifting his crossbow, causing the bolt to sprout from the troll’s left wrist. The bolt sank deep, the force of it throwing the troll’s hand to the side and causing the monster to shriek in pain. It wasn’t enough to stop the attack, however, and even as the bolt cut into the troll’s thick skin, its flesh was starting to heal, thanks to its supernatural regeneration.

The other was Cynen, who crossed the distance so quickly it appeared that she teleported. Her hand reached out and latched onto one of the troll’s thick fingers. Green flame roared out of her palm, quickly covering the troll’s hand and climbing up its arm. The shriek of pain it had unleashed took on a frantic edge and the troll abandoned its attack, backpedaling as quickly as it could as the flames jumped up to its shoulder. Waving its arm in a desperate attempt to extinguish the flames, the troll continued to let out pained cries as the flame grew stronger, fed by the monster’s powerful life force.

Even as its skin burned away, its powerful regenerative ability surged, repairing the damage that was done, only to be charred once more by the relentless green flame. The troll’s thrashing only caused the flames to spread, first up its arm and then to its chest and head. A deathly silence soon fell over the rest of the watching people as it fell to the ground and began to writhe, its voice stolen by the heat that burned its throat. The other troll, who had been about to attack, had retreated as far as possible and was still trying to drag itself further away. The troll’s single bloodshot eye was fixed on the group, though if one was looking carefully, it was clear that the monster was staring at Garrett, rather than at the Grave Walker’s gang leader.

Garrett was watching it with a detached curiosity, as if examining a bug that had been pinned in place. Even as the other troll had attacked, he had sensed that this troll had gotten the same command, but as soon as it locked gazes with him, its survival instinct had caused it to abandon any thought of such a thing, and now it was desperately trying to escape as the weight of the Dreamer’s Throne pressed down on it’s small mind.

Down.

Keeping the command focused on the troll, rather than broadcasting it widely, Garrett was amused when the monster dropped to the ground as if slapped down. It desperately wanted to look away, but Garrett’s mental energy was simply too strong and kept the troll locked in place even as it attempted to press its body into the ground. The other troll was still burning, and the silence that had shrouded the space was broken by the haughty man hurrying over, a faintly horrified expression on his face.

“What are you doing! Unhand the Moonlight Council’s guards! If you harm them—”

He didn’t manage to finish his threat before Cynen’s hand closed around his throat, choking him off. The faint horror turned into full blown terror, but Cynen’s grip was too tight and he couldn’t get any words out as she turned and began to walk up the stairs, dragging him along. About half way up, she stopped and turned her head, as if looking around at the watching gang members. Though her eyes were covered by a black cloth, every single person there felt as if they could see ghostly flames dancing behind her mask.

“You should let him go.”

The woman speaking managed to keep her voice calm on the surface, but the tremble in her hands couldn’t be hidden from Garrett’s sharp gaze. Cynen, who was still looking over the gangs gathered below, slowly turned her gaze to the top of the stairs, where the well dressed young woman stood. Based on the look of relief in the haughty man’s eyes, it was obvious that he thought her words would be enough to grant him his freedom, but Cynen’s response dashed any hope he had.

“You’ve had your fun, am I not allowed to have mine?”

No sooner had her words finished than flames appeared from her fingers that were wrapped around the man’s throat and his skin began to blacken, causing his face to twist in an agonized expression.

“Do not make a foolish choice, Cynen,” one of the other young men who had been watching, his tone sharp.

With a low chuckle, Cynen continued to walk forward, forcing the men and women at the top of the stairs to fall back. In her hand, the man she held continued to burn, his body spasming as Lesrak’s Flames stole his life. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, his life had long since ended, and she casually tossed the charred remains of his body to the floor. The tension could have been cut with a knife, but her lips curved up in a smile as she looked at the young nobleman who had spoken.

“I have not given you permission to use my name, whelp. If your father was here, he could speak to me as you have, and I wouldn’t complain, but if you open your mouth again, you’ll follow in your lackey’s footsteps.”

Opening his mouth to retort, the young nobleman lost his courage as the green flames on Cynen’s hand flared, casting green shadows across his pale face. Letting out a low chuckle, Cynen looked at the table that stood beyond the crowd of nobles. Eight others were already sitting there, every single one of them staring at Cynen in something approaching horror. She had always been one of the stronger awakened, but now it was abundantly evident that her strength had risen explosively. Walking forward, she paid no more attention to the nobles who fell back, leaving her a clear path to the table. When she stopped behind her seat, her smile fled and she spoke with a coldness that chilled everyone who heard it to the bone.

“It seems that much has been forgotten since our last meeting, including the respect due to one of the seats. Do I need to repeat my performance from earlier to remind you all?”