ARIDEN SARETHOL IS A LIAR. Upon witnessing a hostile organization try to take control of a family heirloom, he must enact a dangerous plan that may get him and his friends thrown to prison, or worse, killed. As the veils of false peace slowly fall a...
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Faw knocked her heels on the glass box when Ariden and Lufi made it into the gallery. Her mask lay discarded on the ground, next to the tool roll and the copy of the pedestal's key. "Took you long enough," she said, a lopsided grin showing her yellowish teeth.
"What are you doing? Get down from there," Ariden hissed, shouldering past Lufi and hurrying to where the child and the Earthshaker sat. How...sacrilegious. He frowned, aware of something missing. The room was bright. Shouldn't that...? He turned to Lufi. "Where's the darkness thing you mentioned?"
The priestess in costume scanned the room and craned her neck to the domed ceiling. "Don't know," she said. "I swear it's real when I first came. If not for the cloaker, I would have been found out."
"Ah, you slowpokes," Faw leaped off the pedestal and snatched the key from the ground. "I disabled all protection spells before you entered. See those statues?" she pointed somewhere behind them, and Ariden whirled in that direction. "Those are the magic men. They do everything. So, destroy them..."
"You destroy the system," Lufi breathed. "Why didn't I think of that?"
The girl shrugged and crouched until she's eye-level with the keyhole. " 'Cause you're not creative," she said. "You're...bland. Dull."
Ariden snorted at Lufi's indignant expression. "Are you seriously going to let a kid say that to you?"
Faw rolled her eyes. "Same goes for you, Your Highness."
"Hey!"
Lufi burst out laughing at that. Ouch.
Ariden massaged his chest as if both Faw's verbal jabs and Lufi's unabashed guffaw stabbed him there. "I'll keep watch," he stalked off before Faw invented more creative ways to roast him on an open fire. "Hurry up."
He reached the rim where the arch and the statues waited for him. His weight pressed against his shoulder and, in turn, the wall. Overhead, the real bland corridor went forth. The design was deliberate. The endless twists and turns of nothing but empty halls would turn even the most ambitious thief away. Sadly for them, those without ambition and only looking for a way to pass the time were now inside a trove of the Earth Sprites' most prized treasures.
Not that Ariden cared about those save for the Earthshaker. They're the High Priest and the Head Curator's most prized possession, and over the years, they've found ways to make the people treasure these artifacts too, and now, no one could separate their value from their culture and heritage.
Perhaps, if Ariden had enough time, he would dig into the origin of each of these items and pick them off one by one.
It'd be good fun.
A loud thud followed by a distinct wail rang in the distance. Ariden peeled off the wall and lowered himself to a stance, hand resting on the dagger on his belt. "Oh, I'm suddenly not feeling well. Oh," Tria's exaggerated voice and excellent acting skills echoed off the marble walls. "Let's go back to the main hall, shall we? Then, we can continue our discussion."
