Dante's Immortality: Beginnings

by Antonio Terzini

  She ran her hand through the water. “Did you come to join me, Vicar?”

  Vicar cleared his throat. “No, my lady. Layla has sent her report from the academy.”

  Andrea pouted. “All work and no play, how boorish.” She continued to run her hands through the water, then absentmindedly asked. “Is she sending the boy?”

  “No, my lady.” His words caused Andrea to glance up, making him even more nervous. “He somehow got away… and when Layla deployed Trackers they were unable to pick up a trail.”

  “Oh? How interesting, I wonder who he received help from… likely House Ramotar.” Andrea pondered over the implications, for a moment. “Varik should still be distracting House Ailloss, right?”

  Vicar nodded in reply. “Yes, my lady. There hasn’t been any movement on his end, and their information networks are crippled.”

  Andrea stood up from the bath, revealing her near perfect figure and causing Vicar’s face to redden as he glanced away. “What is Layla doing about it?”

  “She has begun to spread the Tackers out further in an attempt to pick up a scent.”

  Andrea let out a sigh, then grabbed a towel and began to pad herself dry. “The girl may have the ambition… but she seems to lack everything else. Hopefully she will grow out of it.” She continued to dry herself silently, considering House Ramotar’s objective carefully.

  “I assume that Layla, at the very least, had an Artist Classification take a proper sketch of him while he was still at the academy?”

  “Yes, my lady. She followed the standard procedures for those with potential.”

  Andrea walked over to sit in front of the mirror while continuing to dry off her hair. “And which units are currently in that area?”

  “Charles’ and Eric’s units are close by, they could get there in a few hours by raptor.”

  She turned to Vicar with a charming smile. “That’s perfect. Send Eric’s group out between the academy and the wasteland border. I want every major city to be checked, entering or leaving. Place Charles’s Infiltrators between the academy and House Ramotar’s territory for reconnaissance, but tell them not to engage. Those should be the only two routes he takes to escape…”

  “… and for the sketches.” She thought it over carefully, a delicate touch needed to be used, or they could lose too much potential. “Make copies of his sketch and send it out. I want it everywhere, but don’t use color, and don’t mention his hair or eye color in the description.”

  Vicar cleared his throat. “Those two things may be the easiest way to identify him, my lady.”

  Andrea rolled her eyes. “Of course they are. If you were in his position, or someone who was in a position to help him, what would you try to hide first.”

  Vicar hesitated, but nodded in agreement.

  “Set the bounty at one thousand gold, and post it everywhere. Make sure everyone in the Noble Territory knows his face within the week.” She gestured for him to leave.

  “Yes, my lady.”

  Chapter 47

  Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 47

  Dante sat up with a groan, stretching out his stiff back.

  The months he had spent at the academy had completely ruined him. If he could go back in time, he never would have slept in that cursed bed. It made the hard floor, which he had always slept on, completely unbearable in comparison.

  After removing the stiffness in his back, he gritted his teeth and Blinked back down into the alley. Then, after making his way through the mush of human waste, he walked back out to join the crowded streets.

  It seemed that no matter the hour, the streets of Grimspeak were all at full capacity. He couldn’t imagine living in such a place. He had only been in the city for a day, but the lack of space was already making him nauseous and eager to leave.

  Thankfully, the ‘square’ had been far easier to find than the inn had been. All he had to do was walk towards the center of Grimspeak until the traffic slowed to a near halt and the yelling became deafening.

  In the clustered city of Grimspeak, It was a strange thing to behold, a completely open space. That wasn’t to say that it wasn’t cluttered though. The entire area was jammed packed with carts that merchants and craftsmen sold their wares from.

  It was hard to believe some of the prices for food. A small piece of fruit sold for the same price as a dagger at around 15 coppers, it was something that seemed inconceivable to him. He completely ignored those carts, having no intention of wasting his money to such an extent.

  On the bright side, the carts that didn’t sell food had ridiculously low prices and were practically devoid of customers. It only took him ten minutes, and 30 coppers, to come away with a new travel bag that would be suitable for his trip. That done, he looked around for provisions.

  The grain section, which seemed to be the only food being sold at a reasonable price, wasn’t hard to find. It took up almost half of the entire square.

  At two coppers for a loaf of bread, the price was still somewhat extreme. Still, it was far better than any alternative being sold. Dante walked up to one of the carts selling bread, then got in the massive line that extended from it while he listened to those around him muttering about the fight that had started at the academy. Apparently, news had just arrived earlier that morning.

  His time in line should have been pleasant. An uninterrupted wait in an area that was almost too loud to hear anyone else. It should have given him time to collect his thoughts and plan his journey with the help of his new map.

  But all of that was thrown out the window by his growing paranoia, even if it was likely justified paranoia.

  Standing in front of him was a short man that was fingering the handle of his sheathed sword with a combatant glove-covered hand. Which alone wouldn’t have made him alert, but the furtive glances that the combatant gave him did.

  It wasn’t just the combination of his short dark hair and sinister expression. It was how alert the man was. It seemed like if he made any move, the combatant would be ready to cut off his escape.

  Dante kept his guard up, preparing to Blink away in the event of a sneak attack as the two of them slowly made their way to the front of the line. He considered playing it safe and leaving the line, but he needed to buy bread for his journey, and it seemed like regardless of when he chose to go, he would be leaving with company.

  It wasn’t as though he couldn’t find food along the way. He just couldn’t eat random plants due to his lack of knowledge, hunting for food was still a possibility though. The problem lied in the time it would take for him to stalk prey each day.

  The mere act of finding his own food would slow his progress down to almost half speed, unless he got lucky and caught an animal or creature unaware as he traveled. Stalking an animal while simultaneously moving at full speed was nearly impossible.

  He and the combatant had finally made it to the front of the line, and the combatant bought a single loaf of bread and stood to the side, watching him carefully.

  Damn.

  Still, if he were already in trouble, he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stock up. Dante stepped forward, and instead of attempting to talk in the deafening atmosphere, he handed over 60 coppers to the waiting merchant.

  The merchant’s eyebrows rose, but he seemed unwilling to pass up the opportunity to make such a large sale and began to count out the thirty loaves, placing them into his awaiting travel pack.

  As soon as the last loaf was placed in his new pack, he tied it shut in a fraction of a second, and threw himself into the crowd. Away from the short combatant.

  He only made it a few feet when he felt a yank on his shoulder. Dante barely managed to hold in his curse, the combatant’s strength was far stronger than he had expected and likely slightly higher than his own. “Where are you going, friend?” He could just barely hear the words over the loud crowd.

  Dante allowed himself to be yanked, giving no indication of his own strength, and facing the man with an obliviou
s expression. “Can I help you?”

  The combatant maintained an iron grip on his left shoulder and began to lead him through the crowd and away from the deafening crowd. “No, no. It’s what I can do for you. You seem to be new in Grimspeak, maybe I could show you around?”

  Although the man said the words nonchalantly, he was patting Dante down for a weapon as he said it. Dropping his guard noticeably when he didn’t find one. Still, it didn’t stop him from sticking a dagger against Dante’s side.

  That gave him pause. If the combatant knew who he was, he should have known about his ability to make weapons… and even if he didn’t know, he shouldn’t have dismissed the possibility that he was a mage Classification, no matter how rare they were.

  But it raised the question; why was he singled out? It was possible that he just looked like an easy mark, but that was far too unlikely.

  Regardless, allowing the man to do what he wanted with him was a poor choice, and his misgivings about killing a possibly innocent person were shattered as the grip on his shoulder tightened and forced him to turn down a different street.

  Keeping it discreet, Dante created a small dagger. He held it low to his side and out of sight as he began to pump world essence into it. He was going to kill the combatant, but decided it would be best to try and get answers first. “How did you know who I was?”

  The combatant’s grip tightened, and he cracked a smile that was almost a sneer. “Do you really think you can hide with a thousand-gold bounty on your head?”

  A thousand-gold bounty…?

  He wasn’t sure why the sum surprised him so much. A thousand gold coins were nothing to the Calmans, but at the same time, it seemed like far too much. His face would be memorized by every combatant in the noble territory. “When was the bounty posted?” There was no way that it had been up when he entered Grimspeak yesterday, the guards would have recognized him.

  The combatant’s smile was no longer almost a sneer. “Just posted this morning. My luck couldn’t get much better.”

  Dante nodded, then snapped his hand out to stop the combatant’s dagger while simultaneously ramming his dagger through the man’s gut and twisting it. “I wholeheartedly agree.” He immediately destroyed the blade and continued to walk forward through the crowd as if nothing had happened. Making it several feet away before the screams behind him pierced the air.

  Chapter 48

  Dante’s Immortality - Chapter 48

  Guards began to swarm in, drawn in by the sound of the crowd’s screams.

  The entire situation actually worked in his favor. No one was paying any attention to him at all, and ducking his head to hide was far more effective without his silver hair.

  Dante immediately headed for the gates, he needed to leave now. Staying an extra day had been a massive mistake, but he hadn’t expected the Calmans to have spread wanted posters so quickly.

  Actually, he had thought that they had been so reliant on their Trackers that they wouldn’t resort to conventional means, such as a bounty. Even with his hair and eyes changed, his features would still match the sketch, making him easily identifiable.

  And with a newly posted one thousand gold bounty, every second counted. Anyone who even walked past it would mark down his features so that they could recognize him on the off chance that they stumbled upon him. Just thinking about it made it hard to restrain himself from shoving his way through the crowd to move faster, but he managed.

  When he finally made it to the gates that lead to the stairway out of Grimspeak, he was met with an unwelcome surprise. Contrary to what Clint had told him the day prior, the guards were checking anyone who was leaving. Carefully examining them before letting them past, but not checking any sort of documents.

  Dante let out a curse. It didn’t take a genius to see why they were doing that. Grimspeak’s high altitude location was turning into a type of nightmarish prison.

  Blinking over the gate was an option, but there was no way that he wouldn’t be seen and chased. The best-case scenario was leaving Grimspeak without anyone who was alive knowing he had ever been there… which was impossible unless he made a few detours. Not only would he need to track down and kill Clint, who he was quite certain would be willing to sell him out for a thousand gold, but the cartographer would also be a potential threat if left alive.

  Dante took a deep breath. He might have been able to kill Clint if he knew where the man was. From his brief trip with Clint, he knew the world wouldn’t miss the man if he were dead. The cartographer was different though. He wouldn’t involve an innocent man who had done nothing but help him.

  That line of thinking done, his new best-case scenario was to get out of Grimspeak with a significant head start. Enough of a head start to lose any potential pursuers in the open stretch of land between Grimspeak and the border.

  Dismissing the idea of heading down the stairway, Dante cut through the crowd toward the lifts. As soon as he neared them, he moved to the side of the road and kept his head down and waited.

  In less than five minutes he was rewarded by a cart led by two horses pushing through the dense crowd toward the lift.

  Holding his breath, Dante pushed into the crowd, then crouched to reduce his visibility and lower himself to the appropriate height. Then he Blinked directly under the cart, holding on to the bottom of it and letting it carry him toward the lift as he waited for some commotion to indicate that someone had noticed him.

  But the commotion never came. It seemed like the sudden Blink hadn’t caught the attention of anyone, or anyone who saw it didn’t realize what had happened. Dense crowds definitely had their pros.

  Relying on the anonymity of the crowd to hide his Blink was his best idea to get out of Grimspeak on short notice, and even though it was a horrible idea, it had still worked.

  The cart rolled up to the guards at the lift, and Dante calmed his breathing to be as quiet as possible as two of the guards began to systematically check the cart.

  A gruff voice came from the front of the cart. “What do you think you are doing? I pay extra so that I don’t get checked.”

  The guards didn’t pause, and one of them answered absentmindedly. “Calm down you thieving bastard, we won’t touch your merchandise. Everyone gets checked today, no exceptions.”

  The sound of discontent muttering came from the front of the cart, but other than that there was no answer.

  “Alright, everything seems to be in order.” The guard who had talked earlier began to lead the cart toward the gate.

  “You can be damn sure of that, and let Aldric know I’m not paying him next month if this shit continues.” The crack of an indignant whip rang out. Causing the horses to hurry forward, even though they were only a few feet away from the lift.

  As soon as the cart was securely on the lift, they slowly began descending toward the ground below.

  So far, things were going far better than he had anticipated. Now he just needed to find an opportune moment to separate from the cart.

  The lift clicked as it collided lightly on the floor and came to a stop, allowing the cart to move forward, and it had barely moved when the cart driver spoke up loudly. “What do you lot of bastards want?”

  What now?

  A matter-of-fact tone replied to the driver. “We are stationed here by the orders of House Calman. No one may enter or leave Grimspeak without being checked first.” Dante cursed internally, then shifted his grip on the cart so that he had a free hand to carry a weapon. He created a long dagger began pumping it full of world essence and shaping it.

  A whip sounded out, and the horses moved forward. “I was already checked. Out of my way, you lot of bastards.”

  There was an impact on the cart, and it came to a halt. The man who was talking to the cart driver had stopped two horses with a single hand, and Dante held back his curse.

  He was strong, too strong. “Regardless of whether or not you were checked already, you will be rechecked.” This time there was no respo
nse. The cart driver seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.

  Dante was debating whether or not to make a preemptive move when a head popped into view as one of the guards inspected the bottom of the cart.

  Acting before the guard could utter a word, he Blinked closer to him and plunged the dagger into his eye. Then, without stopping, he moved to attack the guard who stopped the cart. Not only was he the clear leader, but it was likely that he was the largest threat present.

  Dante Blinked out, utilizing his element of surprise to stab directly into the leader’s eyes.

  He knew for a fact that he had caught the man off-guard, the widening of his eyes made that apparent, but somehow the leader got his sword up in time to block his blow.

  Dante Blinked out, completely disengaging the leader and eyeing him warily. Not only were his Strength and Dexterity absurd, but the speed that he formed a world essence blade was insane. Even using Blink, his chances in an upfront confrontation were abysmal.

  The leader saw how careful he was acting and gave him a cocky smile, there wasn’t a trace of anxiety on his face. “Looks like I’m due for a promotion, my luck couldn’t get much better.”

  That was the second time he had heard those words that day, but this time they didn’t seem nearly as ironic.

  Instead of answering, he took a moment to check his surroundings. Aside from the cart he rode on with the two horses harnessed to it, there were three guards, the leader, and the corpse of the one he killed. Behind the guards, there were five horses tethered to a tree. Those would be his best chance of escaping… but he had no experience in riding at all.

  The other three guards didn’t seem like much of a threat, they were all hesitating to attack him, but he would need to at least deal with their leader if he was going to have any chance of getting away.

  Dante created another weapon, this time a short sword. He began to recklessly fill it with world essence, not bothering to shape it.