V-23 Enrolled (II)

The best cover identities allow you to be adaptable, for there will be unforeseen circumstances in your future that you will have to adjust your backstory to overcome.

The most common pitfall some little birds make is when they select a region their cover is from. They spend so much effort developing the history for themselves, such as creating a false family lineage. They seed so many pieces of information that their past looks real, and then they are faced with a local, and some minute things simply stop adding up. You speak the language, but not the lingo. You melt into your role and profession, but part of you cannot integrate with the culture. And then come the questions, "Oh, and which part of Diego are you from? Really, you did that 30 years ago? My father was in charge of the Debrinch Torrent at Huaqing Station in High Harbor as well. Maybe you've met him before."

These are very common issues, but these are issues that are so often ignored in the face of so-called greater difficulties. But it is in the small things that our covers thrive or sustain erosion.

And for those of our birdies who think they're going to be clever by choosing to be an orphan or someone alienated from society, well, how are you supposed to get another to trust you when you have no past, even within their culture? People don't need to be suspicious of you for doors to be closed. People merely need to doubt who you're pretending to be for everything to collapse. 

Tradecraft is a very fragile thing.

And the worst covers of all are the ones you know in breadth, but fail to grasp at the depth. A life is not a collection of major events. A life is everything your cover has done. And if you treat your masquerade like a resume, then ultimately it will have the durability of paper, and someone will rip through.

-The Mallard, Aviary Instructor

V-23

Enrolled (II)

Strider of the Unbending Path 163 > 164

The Creeping Void 115 > 117

Strider of the Unbending Path continued to be one of Shiv's most indispensable skills. It didn't matter if it was in combat or if he just wanted to get away from someone. Being able to freeze the flow of chronology, even for a brief second, allowed him to slip from crowd to crowd and reposition.

The massive wards projected by the academy meant he couldn't remain within the time-frozen state indefinitely. Perhaps he could try to contend with the wards using his Shapeless Tides. But if he damaged it in any way, that would probably reveal his presence more than anything else he could do. After all, there were only so many things, or people, that could stop an academy-spanning set of wards dead.

After Shiv's third time stop, he leaped down into a trench leading into a nearby building. He thought he was standing in front of the Manticore dorm, judging from the emblem plastered over its front door. He was going pretty fast, so he didn't get a good chance to have a look, but that didn't matter. He wasn't heading for the dorm itself. Instead, he was going for one of Phoenix Academy's greatest conveniences: its on-campus jump network.

He landed hard in the trench and cracked a few of the boards. He winced but didn't stop. Shiv slipped between two students speaking to each other, knocking a book out of one of her hands. He caught it before it could hit the ground and tossed it back to her.

"Sorry," he said, "being pursued by a bunch of people I definitely don't really know. Don't tell them I came this way."

The student blinked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He didn't wait for her to respond. He kept running.

The trench curved left, veering under Manticore Dorm. He saw a few other students coming from that direction, and one of them staggered to a halt, looking at him with concern. He was a short, human male with chocolate-colored skin, white hair, and a pair of large, round spectacles. Unlike the other students, his robes were the purest white, and he had a silver patch over his shoulder, identifying him as Adept-Medicus John Brambly.

"Whoa, are you okay?" he said aloud as Shiv zipped by him.

"Yeah, just a throat abscess."

"It's a lot of blood for a throat abscess," the medicus called. "You should go to the—"

"Later," Shiv cut him off. Then the Deathless saw his path ahead fork in two different directions, and he briefly stumbled. "Hey, uh, Adept John, which way to the jump station?"

"To your left," John said, looking at Shiv uncertainly.

"Thanks a lot." The Deathless tore off in a controlled sprint down the left hall. Soon, he began to feel waves of pressure building in the air, and even more students headed his way. "Yup, that's a jump station, alright."

He practically dove through a set of wide metal doors and nearly barreled an automaton student over, eliciting a surprised trill in response. Shiv apologized and grunted as he dodged members of the student body as if they were incoming missiles. 

If Marcus had one thing on Shiv physically, it was that he was much smaller. More than a few times, the Deathless had to tuck and roll over people so he wouldn't just smash through them. And with how heavy and powerful he was now, him smashing into another student wouldn't be an injury, but more likely a redecoration of the walls, floors, and ceiling with sprays of red and smears of innards.

"Coming through! Coming through! Just a bit of a nosebleed running down my chest, don't mind me! Coming through!" Shiv called aloud. Heads whipped as he passed by. Trying to track his movements, Shiv forced himself to slow down just so he could maintain their suspension of disbelief. The honest truth was, he was moving fast even for an Adept, but people had a tendency to exaggerate or misremember things. At least that was what he was telling himself at that moment.

Right then, he just needed to get away from this area. He had enough for a day. He already stopped a mass casualty event on campus, though no one would ever know, and he didn't want to deal with Marcus Unblood's personal problems as dessert. As he shimmied past the walls of an antechamber, he found a small line forming along the right side of the room. From the left came another flow of students departing the teleportation station.

The Deathless briefly thought about just running for Carrot on foot, but dissented against it when he saw there were no Prismatic Guard here. That meant he could take advantage of a few things. Once more, he froze time, and it took him a half second to get to the very front of the group.

When he resumed time once more, a student standing behind him briefly flinched, surprised at Shiv's sudden appearance. "Hey, you alright?" Shiv said, reaching out with a hand to steady the other student. 

She was a relatively tall, gangly elf, and she clutched a set of books tight to her chest. One of them was titled Practical Dimensionals and Dimensionality. This one was a jump mage. What she wasn't, however, was a chronomancer, and she probably wasn't prepared for all the bullshit Shiv was about to throw her way either. "You look a little light-headed. You nearly tumbled over for a second. You should probably go to the biomancers and get checked out."

"I should?" she murmured.

"Yeah, called out to you several times earlier. Just kind of stared ahead blankly." Suddenly she looked very concerned. "Anyway, get checked out." Shiv walked forward, successfully deflecting another student asking him where he came from by the powers of blatant lies and induced self-doubt.

Deception 37 > 38

As soon as he stepped onto the platform where that shimmering sphere of dimensionality waited, a notification appeared before his eyes, and a much smaller constellation of jump stations materialized as well. Immediately, he selected his stop, Carrot, and with that, he waited. A second later, the elven jump mage followed.

"Was I really spacing out?" she asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah," Shiv said, tapping his foot and waiting for the transition to follow. Once it did, he would be home free, at least for a while.

The elven student bit her lip and looked down at the ground. "Then the migraines might be returning soon as well."

"Migraines?" Shiv asked.

"I had brain lesions from a plague in my hometown," she said, coughing awkwardly. "Biomancers said they healed, but I knew something didn't feel right."

And now Shiv felt like shit. He just wanted to induce some doubt. He didn't want the girl to actually suffer from some health anxiety. Well, what the hell did we think was going to happen, Shiv chided himself. You lie to someone hard enough, and they believe you. They're going to start questioning things. You need to come up with a better set of lies for situations like this.

Just then, Shiv heard a loud bellow coming from the trenches beyond the room. "Marcus Unblood! We’re going to kill you!"

The student jump mage flinched at the sheer rage in the voice. Shiv just sighed.

"Who  was that?" the elf breathed, betraying a hint of fear.

"Stupid drama," Shiv replied nonchalantly. "Some felling idiot couldn't keep it in his pants. Got a girl pregnant. Now he’s trying to get away from her.”

"Oh, how horribl—”

Jump Initiated - Carrot Station

The teleportation process began. The Dimensional sphere above them swelled wide and swallowed Shiv and the elven student. Whatever else she had to say was cut off as they were both projected toward their destination.

Shiv didn't travel for very long. He was squeezed across what felt like a narrow tunnel for around three seconds before he suddenly arrived at another jump station. This time he was utterly alone and the room he found himself in was sparse and clean. He also couldn't hear any music in the distance nor sense any vitality signatures within a five-meter radius. As he looked up, however, he could see glinting signs of life force splattering all the levels above him. If he had to guess, there were a good few hundred people inside the dorm right now. What it didn't have, though, were people trying to pursue him.

And Shiv let out a heavy sigh as what remained of his tension slid free from his body. 

"Looks like I got away from that," the Deathless muttered, and then he slammed his jaw shut. He eyed the jump station warily, and immediately fled from the room. A set of heavy steel doors opened before him, and even the halls here were clean.

The layout of the architecture right outside the Carrot jump station was much the same as the Manticore counterpart. He found himself back in wood-paneled trenches again, but this time he went the other way, taking the path to the right instead of the left. That's how he found himself in the true basement of the Carrot Dorm. He approached a set of glass-paneled doors, and on them were a mess of stickers, pictures, marker scribbles, and a half-smeared inspirational "you can be whoever you set out to be" in the upper right corner.

As he drew close, he felt his pin briefly wink and the door swung open, granting him entry. The lights inside were dim and cast from small orbs of pyromancy mana. Shiv looked up and thought he could see some hydro dispensers as well. They were modest hydro dispensers compared to the ones at the Swan-Eating Toad. They looked like little studs with holes on the side. Far less conspicuous than the massive hose-shaped things pointing down like spikes from the roof of the restaurant.

Shiv pulled up his interface again and focused on his housing options. In all his excitement earlier, he forgot to double-check which room he was in, and his gaze lingered. It expanded before him. B-4-0-0-2. "Alright," Shiv said, "time to figure out which B I'm in."

He explored the bottom of Carrot and soon found a very helpful map showcasing the building's interior pinned against the wall. Presently, he was on B-2, and this section of the building was dedicated to a central charging station that occupied 80% of the floor, while the rest were sound- and light-warded study halls, along with one public restroom.

Shiv found the stairs soon thereafter, but also noted that there was a mana elevator as well. As he got there, he was surprised to see that the elevator wasn't actually one that used a platform, but simply had a low-gravity field projected upward from the very bottom. Amused by the novelty, Shiv decided to take a hop over the edge, and he felt his body go weightless. "It feels a little bit like Gravitic Wrestler, but a lot weaker." 

He swam downward, passing another level and finally getting to B4. He counted another level underneath B4, and it was totally dark. He wondered what that was for, but decided to explore it another day. Right now, all he wanted to do was get checked in, maybe sit in his chair for a while and stare at the wall to decompress before touching base with Adam and the others.

His dorm room wasn't particularly hard to find. He simply needed to follow the numbers. However, as he walked along the hall, the unmistakable smell of onions and potatoes called to him. As Shiv rounded a corner, he looked to his right and realized there was a communal kitchen here. Within, he saw two students with their backs turned to him. They both had robes with Longinus the Traveler emblazoned on the backside. Shiv saw the snake-like Ascendant holding a lance in one hand and hefting a beer high in the other.

It was only after noticing that, however, that he realized one of the students was a bit odd as well. They were far too large to be human, bigger than Shiv by twice over and rounder than most orcs. Their skin was green, and they had these little tube nubs that stuck out from where their ears should be. Shiv stared as the giant, burly student hummed a low tune that sounded like an earthquake trying to sing, carving away at an onion without suffering any deleterious effects. 

Is that an ogre? Shiv thought to himself.

"Done?" the other student asked. It extended a mechanical hand and its three-digit fingers whirred as it gestured for the ogre to hand in its completed chopped pieces. A cleanly shorn mess of onion bits was promptly offered over and Shiv's guts nearly tangled in outrage. That was some of the worst cutting he'd ever seen. The Deathless did everything he could not to let this moment color his opinion about all ogres in the future. He failed.

At least I know they have a kitchen now, he thought to himself. He retreated from the scene quietly and, after a minute more of searching, found his door. As he came before it, he saw that it was made out of some kind of maple, perhaps. It was a soft and brown wood. There were some mithril supports lining its interior. He could feel that with his Biomancy. They were like rods riven through a body, things he couldn't feel but sensed by absence alone. Beneath the doorknob, there was also a slight glimmer of violet mana. That was the color of divination.

Shiv stared at the door, wondering how he was supposed to open it, and on instinct he reached out. As soon as he did, his pin flickered twice upon his lapel, and the door clicked open, the lock disengaging. As he stepped into his room, Shiv felt the faintest of pressures wash over him. He guessed the lock also constituted several very basic wards, and with how much mithril was running through the capitol's buildings and even within its academy, he had little doubt that there was probably an integrated alarm system active. 

More importantly, if it could detect his mana signature, or at least his perfect semblance's mana signature, then it probably could do the same to other students as well. That likely helped with petty crimes such as burglary or instances of someone sneaking in to copy homework, if that stuff was actually what a cheating student did.

As Shiv squeezed down the narrow hall leading into his room, he shut the door behind him, and only when it clicked did he feel a sense of triumph. He had escaped. He had survived. Another day of madness, and to think this began with him still in a prison. Telling the system to eat his shit one more time, Shiv surveyed his on-campus living arrangements, and immediately found himself missing Weave once more.

To his left was a bathroom. It wasn't shared, but it was small, barely large enough to fit Shiv. The sink and the toilet were a little too close together, and the shower came with a small bathtub. It wasn't long enough for Shiv to lay down in, but he could definitely squat inside it. This made him wonder what kind of living arrangements the Ogre student had. If they needed to apply for special housing or something. 

"Well, it's better than my shithole apartment back in Blackedge," Shiv muttered to himself. "The only water I could get there was harvested from other places."

He left the bathroom door open because he was going to head in after a while. Marcus Unblood's robes needed cleaning, and so did Shiv himself. He'd been in active combat for so long that blood, dried blood, giblets of flesh, and leftover grime was beginning to cling to him like crusting mud.

Briefly, he regarded the rest of the room proper. There was a small chair placed in front of a wooden table. Shiv wondered if that seat could take his weight. That worry in consideration extended to the bed. It was made of wood, too, with white linen sheets and plump brown pillows. But it was definitely smaller and a lot less durable than the first bed he got at Weave. 

And I destroyed that thing, Shiv thought to himself, well, me and Uva did. Godsdammit, I hope she’s okay… They badly deformed her bed made from reinforced metal as well. Good thing I don't need to sleep that much anymore, as a Legend. Not sure if this can support me either.

Frankly, it didn't feel like he needed to sleep at all for physical recovery. Mentally, however, he was somewhat past exhausted and somewhat beyond frustrated. Maybe a half-hour nap would do him some good.

Shiv sighed and peeled the robes off of his body. The front end was painted deep red and soaked all the way through. Shiv held it up before him as he wandered into the bathroom. The interior was dim, but after a few seconds it brightened as if the room sensed his presence. Shiv looked up and saw another small orb charged with Pyromancy lighting the space. The Deathless frowned. He wondered if it was possible to tap into the orb to amplify its mana and use it as a weapon. He wouldn't put it beyond the academy. 

This was, after all, a place with Pathbearers. And having the lights also serve as an integrated defense system was an ingenious idea. Then, as he thought about it a little further, he decided it was probably a stupid idea and likely impossible. It would be more hazardous than defensive. With all the reckless students on campus, it was more likely one of them would burn their own eyes out or something, necessitating an unnecessary trip to the Biomancers after.

He curled one of his mana hydras through the front side of his borrowed robes and peeled the blood away. In the briefest of instances and the lightest of efforts, he managed to strip the red from the black. But that didn't mean the robes were clean at all. No, they were torn in several places, with all manner of dirt, soot, and bits of gravel embedded in the fabric. He looked down at the sink next to him, and he twisted the handle at the top of the faucet. 

Water began to flow, and he followed a faint trickle of Hydromancy mana leading into the jetting metal dispenser. He watched as the water trickled on for a few moments, and wondered if Cullywier could transport him across the university using this infrastructure as well. It was something he needed to ask the fairy later, when he had a chance. For now, he placed his robes within the basin, and began to scrub and squeeze.

He was used to washing his own clothes, but it had been a while since he'd done it. Having a self-repairing set that kept getting shredded, while putting on armors made from his very own bones, made cleaning a redundancy or an activity of simplicity. As he washed his robes, another sigh escaped him, this one more tired and mournful. He thought back to his brief moment of freedom, down in the umbral wilderness, how he swam through the glistening rivers filled with bioluminescent colors, how he gathered the weeds there and discovered their capacity to serve as ingredients. 

He missed it, he craved it, and even though he had some measure of freedom back, it still felt stifling. Becoming a student at the Academy was something he had dreamed about before, but he had a taste of what it meant to be truly free, to be a path bearer untethered to master or the whims of fate. It was like going from being a free-flying bird to one that existed in a large cage.

We'll get that back, he told himself. We'll get everything back. Find Uva and the others again. We'll finish saving what's left of Blackedge, deal with this Udraal bullshit, the Ascendants, and then… then I get to live my life. I don't give a godsdamn what you throw at me system, I'm gonna live my life, I'm gonna find my way, I'm going to live my way. I’m going to grow beyond your violence and force you to give me peace when I ask for it.

He gritted his teeth as he finished his declaration and ignored that wary feeling in his stomach as if he had tempted fate a bit too much. By this point, it didn't matter. The system was going to come for him one way or another. He could only get more powerful, get more prepared, get wiser, increase his knowledge. It was the only thing that could protect him from an ugly end.

As he finished wringing the filth and detritus out of his robes, he began to turn and squeeze. He turned and wrung the fabric in his hands, squeezing out every bit of water it had lodged between its fibers. He used his Hydromancy, plucking out what he couldn't release through twisting alone. And after a few seconds, the robe was as dry as it had ever been. He closed the door to his left and hung it on one of the hooks there. He hummed and saw there was a complimentary set of towels offered already. 

That was thoughtful, he said, but maybe it was just a basic amenity. Not all students there were rich, and supposedly this dorm was specifically for the non-nobles.

It was then that Shiv realized he had no money on him, and he hadn't thought of spending money in quite some time. Frankly, everything he needed he took from someone he killed or one of his allies made for him. Now he was in civilized society, he might encounter some situations that required him to spend mithril. 

Part of Shiv cringed. He didn't like the idea of spending mithril, mainly because he never had much to begin with. And with all the skills he had, stealing was infinitely easier. So was simply killing himself, and making do with the parts harvested from his body. Couldn't, can't be doing that in the open anymore either, Shiv realized.

He mulled on more thoughts as he stepped into the shower. Shiv removed his Voidmantid armor and his mask, placing them into his cape. He thought about the breakout, about all that happened. He thought about how the system hadn't exposed him again, how he was still surprised that no Ascendant or Prismatic Guard presence descended upon the campus in search of the Legendary Tier prisoners after the battle he had. He thought about the Neath, about Irons, about everything they had to do in the future. 

One thing he definitely didn't think about though was Udraal. He didn't want to deal with that. He never wanted to deal with that. But despite this, Shiv knew what was coming. His maker had plans, and the game he was playing was an ugly one. Worse yet, Shiv couldn't quite get his measure. 

He was a moral monster born of action instead of birthed of bestial nature, but also wasn't hateful nor rageful. He didn't seem to be affected by anything emotionally. He just treated people like things, and that was what Shiv was to him. A thing. That was what Shiv's parents were to him as well. And Adam's parents. And Adam. And everything in the world.

Valor, Shiv thought to himself, what the hell happened to make your son like this? Or was this how he always was? Something you couldn’t remember? And as soon as Shiv thought of his old friend, feeling lonely in this room, he wondered how Valor was doing. How Uva and everyone else was doing on Blackedge. He even thought about Roland. He washed himself, scrubbing away at the fetid accumlation that was clinging to his body. Just hold on. I'm coming to get you. I'll find a way. I'll find a way soon. I promise.

Something hit him in the side of the head. It wasn't painful, but it did make him flinch. Shiv turned hard. He spun within the basin, and the water around him splashed. His last morsel appeared in his right hand, and the Deathless growled, prepared to fling himself at his ambushers, and rip the limb from them. Can't even shower in peace. 

His vicious snarl died as he rolled his eyes and let out a tired scoff in the face of his “enemies.” "Really? This is how you decide to reach out right now? Right now? While I’m cleaning my ass?"

Dimensional rifts splayed wide before him, blocking his sight over the marbled tiled walls. Down the pathway, Adam laughed. The Gate Lord's merriment was overwhelming, and he practically couldn't stop himself from doubling over. His vector wings glimmered bright as he drew closer. Behind him, a small cohort of orcs followed, Helix, Whisper, and Tequila among them all. Back on the other side of the pathway, Mortar grinned as well, waving with his large metallic fingers.

"When else?" Adam asked. His face was red in that open visor, and he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing into laughter once more. “You’re finally out of the fire.”

"Why?" Shiv said. "What's got you so tickled?"

"We did a whole funeral for him," Adam began before he finally broke down.

And then Shiv realized, and he couldn't help it. He chuckled too. "Yeah, a bastard. I thought we were taking advantage of some poor, unfortunately cursed orphan who fell heroically in battle. It turns out, he's a poor, cursed orphan who's hated by everyone from his hometown, and apparently didn't believe in using protection."

"That's two girls now," Adam breathed. His eyes were wide as saucers. "Two!"

"Technically one," Shiv said with a deadpan grunt. "The other’s a corpse in a freezer along with the infant she carried.”

And that made Adam wince. "Right. But still, this is ridiculous. I mean, does he have any social skills?"

"None that passed muster," Shiv said finally. "But then again, neither do any of the girls, I think. So, I don't know, maybe they found him endearing? He went off in the woods and picked them a bunch of flowers or something? I don't know, Adam. I have no idea why this guy did what he did and how he managed to get to doing what he did."

"And the best part about it is that it's now your problem." Adam started laughing again, and Shiv just glared.

"I want to strip the skin-color from that liaison's ass if I ever see him again. He really neglected a lot of information when he dumped Marcus’s corpse right in front of me."

"A lot," Adam concurred. The gate lord coughed and mastered himself. "Anyhow, where's your pin? Show it to me.”

Shiv pulled back the curtain and picked it up from where he left it on the toilet lid. As he turned, Adam held up a bluish pin. It too was built on mana, and Shiv briefly squinted at it. "How'd you get one of that? Is that left over from your academy days?"

"No, my pin's still back on Blackedge. I took it off the moment I got back home." A slightly sour expression crawled over Adam's face. "I don't think I will be seeing that pin anymore. However, this one, this one is meant for on-campus security. It's assigned to one Hector Boulevard."

"You get a false identity too?" Shiv asked.

"Not exactly. Hector Boulevard is an actual security officer on campus. However, he is currently on leave, an extended leave, and through a series of fortuitous circumstances, his pin ended up with Professor Merrielmel."

"Ah, I got it," Shiv said. "Got a back door into the Academy's network, huh?"

"Yes, and immediate access. Greet me once more," Adam sighed. A string of mana formed between Shiv's pin and the one Adam held, and soon the syncing process was complete. "Good. Now I'll be able to message you wherever you are."

The Deathless folded his arms, but immediately continued washing, rubbing more of the grime off of his body. Adam shot him a look, but Shiv didn't stop. "Why, I gotta clean myself at some point, and you decided to interrupt me. I'm not covering up or stopping on your account."

"Oh, I don't mind," Adam said with an air of nonchalance.

"Yeah, sure you don't," Shiv replied. “That’s why you shot me in the head just now.”

"It was simply the best time."

"Best time's when I was naked?" Shiv asked.

"Are you shy?" Adam snapped back. "Oh, wait, no. The question is, did you somehow develop shyness in the few months we've known each other? Because I do recall you finding interesting ways to torture me early on."

"Hey, I didn't know how good your Awareness was then. And secondarily, you could have gone on a longer walk."

"I could have gone on a longer walk? Truly? That’s your defense?" Adam nodded with incredulity. "You hear this one?" He gestured at Shiv, and the orcs smirked. All of them except Helix.

"Are you two jousting or trying to perform a pre-mating ritual?" the Biomancer spat derisively. “Must you always peck at each other like roosters in heat.”

Both Adam and Shiv glared at him. "It's called banter," Shiv said. "And everyone does it, especially friends."

"Ah, yes, friends," the orc asked with a nasally hiss. “I forgot, I speak this way to other orcs all the time.”

“Don’t bullshit them, Helix,” Mortar called from the back. “You have no friends. None of us like you either. That’s why no one banters with you.”

The other orcs, Shiv, and Adam laughed again. Helix scowled even harder.

"It's normal," Adam added. "Besides, there's nothing here either of us haven't seen before."

The orc seemed to accept that as an answer, and so he rolled his eyes instead of saying anything else. Tequila, meanwhile, was actively staring down, leaning his head out from the dimensional rift. Shiv looked back at him. "Can I help you, Tequila?"

"Yeah, don't you ever find it ugly?"

"Find it ugly?" Shiv said politely.

"It looks like a worm that doesn't know how to grow hair on the rest of its body. A cursed worm.”

"I, uh..." Shiv really didn't want to have this conversation with the orc, so he simply shrugged. "No, man, I just, I don't think about it that much. Listen, lean back, you're starting to creep me out."

The former detective scoffed. "Oh, humans are so awkward about your bodies."

Shiv shook his head and went back to speaking at Adam. "So, aside from connecting your pin to mine and ambushing me while I'm trying to get all this gunk off myself, is there any other reason why you’re here right now? Aside from recruiting my orcs to make me feel bad about my organs.”

"Yes, I think we should talk about everything that happened today. But first..."

And before Adam could finish, a loud banging sound made Shiv flinch. The Deathless turned, his deep blue eyes narrowed and glowed brighter. From outside, there came a loud roar. "Marcus, get out of here! Get out of here and take this beating like a man! You're not getting away from us! Not in this life or the next!"

Slowly, Shiv's head fell with near-despair as Adam began gagging with laughter again. "They actually managed to track you all the way back here."

"I can't believe this," Shiv said. "I'm going to kill Marcus."

"He's already dead, Shiv."

"I'm going to find wherever he is. And if he isn't, I'm going to resurrect him and kill him again."

“MARCUS!” Shiv’s pursuers shouted.

“The hells with this,” Shiv said, shutting off the shower and reaching for his towel. “I’m putting a stop to this shit. Enough is enough.”