Eden's Gate: The Sparrow: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  Adeelee let out a deep breath. “But invisibility potion effects are broken the moment you attack someone. The guards would kill you as soon as you kill your brother. There’s no way you’d escape.”

  Jax looked down at the ground for a moment and then looked back to up towards Adeelee and I. “I had no intention of escaping.”

  “Suicide?!” Adeelee huffed. “You can’t!”

  Jax chuckled. “Why not? I can’t even live with my family in the Vale—you, Queen Farrani, King Ryvvik—because I’m a human. So I stay in Addenfall alone.”

  “You love Addenfall,” Adeelee cried.

  “I do love Addenfall,” Jax nodded. “But I can’t help but feel like I’ve been…” He seemed like he was searching for the right words.

  “Outcast?” I asked.

  Jax looked up at me, but he didn’t say a word.

  “I know the feeling,” I explained. Goodness knows that’s how I felt when I had lived back on Earth. “But you’re not outcast, Jax. Adeelee loves you, Fenris loves you, and I’m sure the Queen does too.” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “Hell, she forbade me from living in Addenfall.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jax replied. “There’s no other way for me to take out my brother. I’ll die before I let the Dark Hand kill my father like he killed my mother and sit on the throne of Highcastle.”

  “There is another way,” I said. I turned to Adeelee. “Remember what you suggested to the Queen and King the day that they found out the Fellblade had been stolen?”

  Adeelee’s eyes darted as she remembered. “Help the orcs?”

  “Right,” I confirmed. “We get the Fellblade back and return it to King Ergoth. The orcs will return to the Wastelands and—”

  “And all the soldiers can return to Highcastle, making it too dangerous for Sparrows to slip inside,” Adeelee finished, finally catching on, her face lighting up at the prospect.

  “So there is another option,” I repeated, looking hard at Jax.

  “There’s no guarantee of success,” Jax said. “And I still won’t get my revenge…”

  “There’s no guarantee that you could kill the Dark Hand if you go invisible,” I explained. “The only guarantee is that you would die.”

  “The other plan is dangerous, but it could work,” Adeelee contended.

  “Give me the potion,” I said. “I’m a Reborn, so if I die, I’ll suffer the death but I’ll respawn. It guarantees that we all live, and I give you my word, Jax.” I looked at him with serious eyes. “I’ll help you kill the Dark Hand someday, when we’re both strong enough to do it properly.”

  I held my hand out to Jax, hopeful that he would accept my plan.

  “Listen to Gunnar, Jax,” Adeelee insisted. “We can make things right, the right way.”

  Jax took a deep breath and puffed his chest out before gripping my hand tightly. “I don’t know why, Gunnar—especially after you tried to run off with that sword—but I trust you.”

  “Good,” I said with a smile.

  “What the hell is this?!” a voice said from behind us.

  We all turned around to see a large man with bandana around his neck looking down at the two guards that were dead on the floor. He had obviously just entered the hideout without us hearing.

  Adeelee and Jax both pulled their bows off their backs in a flash and fired arrows at the man, just as he looked up and noticed that we were there.

  The arrows landed in the man’s chest with a thud, and the man started grabbing at the shafts and turned to run away. I rolled forward on the ground and stopped on my knee, reaching out my hand to fire a Fireblast from my right hand and then an Arcane Missile from my left.

  Both shots landed in the man’s back, and he fell face first and he slid across the ground.

  You have gained 1000 XP!

  Killing humans in cities seemed to give a comparably higher experience to killing monsters in the wilderness.

  “We’ve got to hurry before someone else comes,” Adeelee said.

  “Give me the potion,” I huffed. “How do I find the Fellblade?”

  Jax handed me the vial of creamy liquid. “Through the door is a maze of hallways and rooms leading to several different quarters of the Sparrows, but if you head straight until you reach a dead-end with a door in front of you, turn right and there’s another door where the Dark Hand meets his recruits, and I imagine where he has the Fellblade is as well. My meeting with him was postponed because he was sleeping.”

  You’ve received: Invisibility Potion. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. Drink to become invisible for 10 minutes.

  “And how do I open the door without anyone noticing? Is it locked?”

  Jax shook his head. “That, I don’t know.”

  “Do you think the Dark Hand has some sort of perception trait that would passively allow him to detect someone invisible?” Adeelee asked.

  Jax shrugged. “It’s always possible, but we don’t have time to play guessing games.” He turned to me. “You’ve got 10 minutes from the moment you drink the potion before the effect wears off. If you’re detected, attack, or get attacked, the effect pops.”

  I nodded. “You two should go wait for me at that whore’s house—36-B.”

  “Whore’s house?” Jax asked.

  “Long story. Adeelee will tell you all about it. If I succeed, I’ll meet you there in 10 minutes… If I’m not back in fifteen, then I guess you know what happened.”

  Adeelee nodded and surprisingly pulled me into a tight hug. “Good luck, Gunnar.”

  My adrenaline was pumping from what I was about to do, but the feeling of the princess pressed into me totally made my mind stray. She smelled amazing, and that tiny little frame was like—

  “Gunnar?” Jax said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  “Yeah?”

  He raised an eyebrow at me and shook his head slightly. “Good luck.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  01/14/0001

  Jax and Adeelee hurried out of the hideout, and I pulled up my stats to assign my AP and LP before making my move. If I died, I at least didn’t want to lose my points.

  I chose to put one point in strength, still trying to make up for the strength I lost when I broke Mythanthar’s Blade, one point in willpower, since the stat was low, and I really needed to recover from painful damage faster, and one point in charisma, because Adeelee was a lot more resistant to my advances than I expected. My level point went into inscription because it was obviously going to be a very hard skill for me to level naturally.

  I popped the vial of liquid, pouring it down my throat. I almost gagged at the slimy texture and the foul smell that reminded me of spider guts from the dungeon in Gramora.

  My body tingled from head to toe, and starting from my feet and working up to my hands, my entirety became covered with a translucent hue of gray.

  You are invisible.

  I could still see myself, so I could only hope that I was really invisible to everyone else. Below my health bars, a small icon of a shroud appeared, which I found humorous, considering that I was wearing a shroud.

  I threw the empty vial aside and moved up to the door leading further into the Sparrows hideout. I knew I had to move fast, not only because of the ten-minute limit, but because at any time, another Sparrow could stumble across the four bodies in the first room and ruin everything.

  I slowly opened the door as quietly as possible and slipped inside the hallway, then closed it behind me. Directly ahead of me was a long hall, just as Jax had described, with various hallways and doors branching off on each side. The furthest wall was a good two hundred meters ahead of me, and there were at least six guards stationed at various positions along the wall, and a couple who were roaming. They all wore the same dark leather armor that the Sparrows wore and had red bandanas around their neck or draped out of their pockets. A couple of them had the bandanas pulled over their mouths.

  “Did you hear that?” the
closest guard said to another. “The door just closed on its own.”

  “Drizzy must have left it cracked.” The other guard shrugged. “Just the wind. It’s shut now.”

  My heart was pounding as I stood there, feeling like I was in clear view of everyone. I wanted to try to inspect them, but after the Krazir in the tailoring shop detected me inspecting her, I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.

  I hunkered down into sneak mode, remembering that my time was limited and walked as swiftly as I could whilst trying to not make a sound. At that pace, I figured it would take me at least two minutes to get to the far wall if I didn’t stop, and two minutes to get back, leaving me only 6 minutes to figure out how to get inside the Dark Hand’s room to steal the Fellblade.

  The hallway was very thin, and when I passed the first set of guards, who were standing on each side of the hallway, I was only about 6 inches from either one.

  One of the guards sniffed as I passed. “Do you smell that?”

  “What?” the other one asked, raising his nose to sniff as well.

  “Smells like animal… a lot like my cat at home.”

  “There’s no cats in here.”

  Oh god…

  I approached an intersection, and right before I was about to cross into it, a Sparrow came walking fast from one side, and I had to throw myself against the side of the wall to avoid him running into me. The wall rattled a bit, and he stopped and looked straight at me as if he could see me there, but after a second, he just shrugged and moved on. I was holding my breath the whole time.

  I passed four other guards without incident before I reached the far wall, then turned to the right so that I was standing in front of the door of the Dark Hand’s room. To my dismay, a guard was standing right in front of the door.

  The guard was pretty burly, so I saw no way that I would be able to slip past him unless he moved further away from his station. And since I couldn’t attack him, I wasn’t sure how I’d get through.

  I turned back for a moment as I tried to think of a way that I could get the guard’s attention and move him away from the door, when I heard the footsteps of another Sparrow approaching from the main hallway.

  There was only once chance for me to get the plan right that suddenly sparked in my head, so I reached in my purse as quickly as I could to pull out three gold coins and stationed myself flush against the wall, hoping that the person approaching would turn in the direction of the Dark Hand or the other direction.

  The Sparrow was walking quickly when he reached the far wall, and sadly, he took a left turn which meant that I’d have to do things the hard way. I dropped two gold coins on the ground, making sure they both made a loud enough clanking sound that it would catch the ear of the door guard, and then I rolled a third coin in the direction of the guard, making sure that it landed closer to him than the guy who had just turned.

  The guard looked down at the sound of the coins dropping and his eyes followed the gold piece that slowly rolled his way and landed a few meters from him. “Hey!” he called out. He stepped forward, exactly as I hoped he would, and picked up the coin. “You dropped some gold over here.”

  The man further down the hall stopped and turned. “What?” He patted his pants and the two men started moving in to meet.

  I shimmed hard against the wall until I was past the guard and then walked as quickly and silently as I could before slipping in the Dark Hand’s door. I had to hold the front of my shroud up to my mouth to quell the sound of my heavy breathing, I was so nervous.

  The inside of the Dark Hand’s room wasn’t very big, but it was filled with valuable-looking items. A giant crossbow was resting against the back wall, and rolled up tapestries were leaning against the left. Swords, shields, and armor were scattered about, and there were several treasure chest stacked up, one upon another. Right in the center of the room was a massive ebony desk with papers scattered on top. A man who bore somewhat of a resemblance to Jax had his head on the desk and was passed out in a deep slumber. He was bigger than Jax, though, and unlike Jax’s dark hair, the Dark Hand’s hair was a mix of white and gray, and he had a short gray mustache and beard with a scar running down the side of the face. He was entering old age, but he still looked very dangerous.

  I looked up at my health bars and focused on the shroud icon below them.

  Invisibility: You are invisible. Duration: 5 minutes.

  My heart was pounding. Getting inside had taken longer than anticipated, and I’d have to move fast if I were to make it out in time.

  I scanned the room looking at the various weapons, but one stood out amongst them all. Not only was it much larger than the rest of the weapons, but it was also leaning against the Dark Hand’s desk. That had to be what I was looking for.

  I crept over to the sword and grabbed the hilt with my strange, gray-infused hands, and almost lost my breath when I felt the power oozing from it.

  You’ve received: The Fellblade. 275-520 Attack Damage. Requires 65 Strength. Durability: 701/1000. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Ancient. Weight: 7.0. +20 Strength. +20 Willpower. 20% chance to cause hemorrhaging. 0.5% chance to cause instant death on hit. 200% increased chance to destroy shields and armor. On Cast: Fellstrike: 765 Charges Left.

  Holy Shit… I thought. The Fellblade was unlike anything I had encountered thus far in the game, and even made some of the legendary items like Mythanthar’s Blade look like children’s toys. Donovan was right… This was the kind of thing that people would start wars over.

  The sword was about as long as a greatsword, but it had a wide, flat blade of black and gray with several teeth notched into the edge. It wasn’t something that the average man could wield, and I felt strained when I lifted it in my hands. Corrosion or dried blood—I couldn’t tell—was at the base of the blade where the sword met the hilt. No matter the case, it was a nasty, nasty weapon.

  I flipped my unburdening bag open, and the width of the Fellblade just barely managed to fit as I dropped it inside. I felt relieved once the weight of the sword left my hands and passed into the Otherword.

  The Dark Hand stirred, and I froze. His body jerked, and he coughed a little, causing a slight amount of saliva to rocket out of his mouth and onto his desk. Thankfully, after the quick grunt, he stopped moving again.

  I turned back towards the door and looked at it, having literally no tricks or ideas of how I was going to get outside. I looked around the room for something that might help, but nothing caught my eye. I had to just open the door and hope for the best. I was invisible after all.

  I pulled on the door as gently as I could, and opened it as slowly as a calm breeze. Surprisingly, the door didn’t squeak, and even more surprisingly, the guard in front of the door didn’t notice when it was fully open. He just stood there with his arms crossed, staring forward.

  “Hey!” a guard further down the hall yelled. “The boss’s door is open!”

  The guard turned around and looked through me, surprised to see the door fully ajar. In a panic, I threw my body against the wall, and when the guard walked inside and grabbed the door handle, I pivoted outside and started shuffling down the hall.

  There was a little less than two minutes showing left on my invisibility effect.

  I eased my way down the hall, following the same process I had when I entered the hideout, only this time moving with a little more haste and urgency. I shimmied against the wall when I had to, but otherwise stayed hunkered down in sneak mode, moving quietly past the guards until I made it to the door.

  I was running out of time, so I had no chance to think as I slowly pushed open the final door just enough that I could squeeze through and close it back again.

  Sweat was pouring down my brow as I stumbled back into the main room with just a few seconds of my invisibility effect left to spare. I started for the exit, and a smile crept over my face. Fuck yes… I had actually managed to steal the Fellblade!

  I paused for a moment right before the body of the guy who had
killed me in Addenfall. I couldn’t remember if the guy had a name or even if Jax told me his name, but if he had been the one who killed me in Addenfall, that meant that he was the one who had stolen the Fellblade in the first place. He was overpowering Adeelee, and Jax only killed him with a surprise attack, so he must have been pretty powerful, maybe even had some cool items on him.

  I knew it wasn’t the safest idea to waste any more time in the hideout, but I decided to take a chance and kneeled to stick my hand in his purse.

  You've received: Dexterous Band: Durability: 9/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 0.1 kg. +8 Dexterity

  You’ve received: Mysterious Key. Durability: 1000/1000. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. A strange key to an unknown location.

  You’ve received: Weathered Treasure Map. Durability: 32/50. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. A map to hidden treasure.

  You’ve received: 3 Lockpicks. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg. Used to open things that aren’t meant to be opened.

  You’ve received: Kroka. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg. An illicit substance used for incredible enhancements. Be wary of addiction and side-effects!

  “Who the fuck are you?” a voice said.

  I looked up to see that another Sparrow had climbed down in the cellar and was standing at the room entrance.

  Name: Sparrow Recruit

  Race: human

  Level: 15

  Health/Mana/Stamina: 140/100/150

  Status: unknown

  I stood up slowly, casually. “Oh, hey. Someone came in here and—” I raised my hand and cast Fire Curtain across the man, setting his clothes ablaze.