The presence was…nothing. It had mass, but no weight. It had solidity, but provided no resistance. It was not able to simply pass through solid surfaces, but solid surfaces, where they were able, would instinctively make way for it to move on unhindered. People parted in the street to form an abscess through which the presence navigated, and not a single one of them even knew they were doing it.
It moved quickly, for the aid they gave, and headed to its destination with no hesitation. The presence had something very particular in mind, a target, a deed. Its tongue lolled out as it moved, saliva dripping down to turn pavement-dirt into sludge. It giggled softly, and though a few people looked up and searched with frowning faces for the source of the mysterious noise…none could find it.
For the presence was beyond invisible, a petty trick easily foiled by any number of things. It was unnoticeable, unseen. And the unnoticeable thing in a world of direct action and aimed power was no different to a god. The presence grinned, showing teeth the world could not see, and picked up its pace. A god…It could get used to that.
It could get very used to that.
The inn was easy to reach, and easy to enter. The presence slightered in, breathing hard now with the excitement of what it was doing. It breathed harder upon laying eyes on its target. A tall woman, perhaps six feet from heel to head, and with dark skin. Her hair was cropped short, features prettier than her constant warrior's-glare wanted to give away, body…aluring. The presence took a moment to just…stare. Take in the sight, enjoy the feeling of seeing without being seen. Then it started to close in on her.
One step, another. It was circling like a bird of prey, guided by instincts it didn't know it had. The woman looked up, frowning now. It seemed she sensed something was off, remarkable instincts. But it mattered not. Nothing could detect the presence, nothing could truly pinpoint its location. It was still the master of this world, for it could not be seen and the world could.
"Is someone there?" The woman asked, keeping her voice low so as to not be seen calling out to phantoms by the other patrons. The presence did not answer her, and had to stifle a grin as it saw the look of concern etch its way across her face.
This was better than any pile of silver, than any castle, than any queendom. It stayed still and enjoyed the luxury for a few moments more, then closed the final few steps at once.
So close, the entity could hear the woman's breathing, smell her sweat, see the pulsing of blood in her veins. It got closer still, transfixed, now, as it stared down at the woman's neck. Lips dry, throat tight, loins stirring. She was beautiful, and now the entity could stare as much as it—
—the fist caught it in the face, and knocked it down to its ass. The woman was moving as a blur. Her first strike had been a glancing blow, still enough to almost break bone with the sheer strength of it. A clean connection would be death. The entity worked fast to desperately claw off its ring and expose itself once more to detection.
At that, Aexilica froze mid-swing.
"...Emma?" She gasped, staring. Her face was making the slow transition from confusion, to comprehension, to rage. Emma decided to try and explain things before that could be completed. Aexilica really had gotten very strong lately, and she was in no mood to find out how far the woman was capable of throwing a forty kilogram girl.
"I found this!" She quickly volunteered, holding up the Ring of Daqin-Durr proudly and waiting to see if Aexilica recognised it by sight and context.
She did not, so Emma explained more.
"It basically makes me…Not invisible exactly, unnoticeable. Like people are always looking away from me for some reason. A pretty girl catching their eye elsewhere, something unbuttoned they need to adjust, that sort of thing."
Aexilica stared at her, and Emma saw the woman's anger rising despite her explanation.
"What were you doing just now?" She asked. Emma paused. What was she doing? The truth, obviously, was what Aexilica wanted, and yet…She wouldn't like it.
"I was not going to touch you." She replied honestly, then braced for whatever came next.
It wasn't a kick, at least. Aexilica just stared at her with disgust, shaking her head and sighing.
"You got a magic invisibility ring." She groaned. "Of course you got a magic invisibility ring."
"What does that mean?" Emma frowned, getting to her feet.
"Everything just…" Aexilica paused, then shook her head. "Nevermind, this conversation's going to be annoying."
Emma had no idea what she meant by that, but was too relieved to pry about it. She got up with a groan. "So this is something at least, right?" She asked.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"A fierce object." Vari whispered, staring at the ring. "I've heard tales of such things, but never thought they were real."
"Didn't ask for your life story." Emma grunted, plopping herself down into a chair. Between the literal near-death experience and the sudden remembrance that her giant fucking pile of silver was still gone, she found a new spike of depression lodging hiself deep in her brain. "Fuck." She sighed.
Food arrived soon enough, though it wasn't particularly nice Emma found the stuff tasting like an angel's breast milk. Weeks at sea subsisting off nothing but salted meat, dried fruit and stale bread would do that to a person's palette, and she and her companions finished cleaning their plates within a few minutes. Emma wanted more, even then, but they weren't able to afford just throwing money away, not with the few coins they'd happened to have on them upon being stranded dwindling every day.
Ah, another reminder of how the Storm-Eyes had screwed her. Wonderful, Emma had been worried she might get some sleep tonight.
They retired to their room, a small thing that was, nonetheless, quite expansive compared to the ship's cabins. If there was one advantage to suffering across the seas for so long, it was that Emma could now find relative luxury almost anywhere she went on dry land. Finding actual luxury with her silver would've been nice, but then life was never that cool.
Morning came, jarring Emma out of her bed. She actually fell shortly after rising up from it, realising only as she hit the boarded floor that her sealegs were worse than she'd thought. Fortunately, they adjusted soon after she got back up to her feet. The room was already empty when she did; no sign of Vari, no sign of Aexilica.
Well, almost empty then.
Larry was buried, as usual, and pissed, as usual. He didn't actually start screaming as Emma excavated him from his hiding spot, but he was far from happy.
"Oh I missed this." He growled. "Getting smothered every night, dark and immobilised."
"Stop whining." She sighed. "It's not like you need to breathe."
"Not the point, fuck you." Larry shot back, still glaring. "What are you planning?"
"What makes you think I'm planning anything?" Emma frowned. Larry tried to roll his eyes, though had long since moved past being annoyed at failing.
"Because you're always planning something, you're like a tiny little rat-gremlin."
Emma glared at him. "I'm not taking that from you. Maybe from someone else, not from you. Your entire job was tricking people into having their lives ruined, asshole. You almost did it to me. You'd still be doing it if I hadn't taken your head off."
"Yes, fuck you very much for that by the way." Larry grunted. "Now what are you planning?"
She considered not answering, but didn't see much point.
"Well, I still want money."
—"Your shitty human construct, you mean." Larry cut in.
"Yes." Emma snapped. "My shitty human construct, because I live in a world full of humans who all constructed it too, and they'll do what I say if I have more of this construct to offer them in exchange."
Larry grumbled at that, but gestured that she continue with a few twitches of his eyebrows. Larry had, quite by necessity, perhaps the most expressive eyebrows Emma had ever seen.
"As I see it, the best way to acquire more wealth is by doing some…Ugh, questing." Now that she'd decided she either wasn't hallucinating, or that her hallucination was indistinguishable enough from reality for that to not matter, Emma found the idea of fighting magical beasts for a living far less appealing.
Larry grinned, enjoying her discontent as much as ever.
"You could make more potions." He noted. "Or another Talisman."
Emma scowled, fingering her amulet as she thought idly. "Another Talisman might be good, but I don't know how to strengthen my body with those. If I can't do something with magic directly, I can't do it with Talismans, right?"
"Right." Larry confirmed. "Pretty much at least, that's how it tends to work in my experience."
"Annoying." Emma scowled. "And potions take a long time to make, plus preparatory areas. I don't have a workable kitchen to boil things down for another strength potion here."
"You didn't really use them much when you did." He noted.
"Time was sensitive, and I didn't expect things to go to shit as much as they did. Shut up." She snapped. "Point is, potions aren't an option right now right?"
"Right." Larry grinned. "So you're gonna…What, go around and ask people for jobs?"
"There's a missives board." She grunted. "We're going to check that out."
And so they did, right after properly re-burying Larry. Couldn't have anyone stumbling onto a severed head in their room, could they? It would be just like him to feign actual death just as a way of spiting her, for one thing. And it'd give the prick someone else to talk to for another.
Downstairs, Emma found Aexilica and Vari already with food laid out. Again, not the nicest. And again it tasted like the inside of Artemis' asshole, Emma enjoyed it for the brief period it lasted. She wasn't exactly used to suffering from too-little nourishment. If there was one great advantage to being the smallest woman she had ever personally met, it was that other people's "normal" portions tended to let her have her fill and then some. Her belly ached once they were done.
"This fucking sucks." She groaned.
"I know." Aexilica soothed her, looking annoyed at something but not bringing it up directly. "Just hang on, we'll find work today—"
—"Yeah, that's what fucking sucks." Emma snapped. "I didn't throw myself through a portal and develop magic powers just so I could get a job. Eugh."
Aexilica's lips thinned, and even Vari had the gall to look disapproving. Despite her protests, though, Emma knew they were both right, and so she let them wisk her away to pick her next torture.
The missives board was like something straight out of an MMO, old and weathered, covered with inconsistently written and added jobs written in handwriting she could barely read even despite the automatic translation she enjoyed in this world. Emma strained her eyes as she examined it all.
"All of this pays like shit." Emma frowned, earning yet another glower.
"It pays well enough." Aexilica told her. "Between the three of us we can afford to rent with this, and maybe buy a house in another few years."
Ridiculous.
Emma was about to explain that she was not, in fact, going to still be homeless in even one month, let alone one year, when they were interrupted by a newcomer. Several newcomers actually, all large, burly men with mean faces and meaner weapons. They moved with the kind of easy grace Emma had come to learn was standard to those with innate superhuman physicality, muscular prowess great enough that their own weight was no weight at all. Their leader spoke with a gruff voice.
"We're here on behalf of Miss Laraveig," he said, "give us the ring."
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