I finished my meal, said my goodbyes, then headed over to the nearest chapel, which happened to be dedicated to the Aspect of Valor. I’d learned from the attendants that there were five chapels, one for each of the various aspects of Raguel, and one enormous Cathedral where they held continual vigils to honor the five-fold nature of Raguel. The Chapel of Valor was mostly empty at this hour, though there were a couple of quiet, contemplative souls that probably didn’t appreciate it when I stumbled, half-drunk, up to the altar.

Thanks to my heightened Brawn it took a lot to get me drunk these days, but I didn’t see that as a bad thing so much as a challenge, especially since I fucking loved drinking. Back on earth, it would’ve sucked balls because even on a Sergeant’s salary beer was expensive—even the garbage shit like Natty Ice—but as a Vigil, everybody and their brother was willing to buy me a round. Which was doubly good considering the water around here should’ve come with a dysentery warning label.

I’ll take black-out drunk over a case of never-ending runs any day of the week.

“Don’t mind me,” I slurred, stifling a burp with one hand, “I’ll be out of your hair in just a second.” The altar stood in the center of a raised dais. It was a slate-gray pedestal with five sides—each side depicted a different face: a matronly woman, a grizzled veteran, a bald fanatic, a young maiden, and an androgynous mannequin. Gadriel, Face of Justice. Voch, Face of Valor. Thuriel, Face of Wrath. Lero, Face of Balance. Akora, Face of Truth.

Floating above the pedestal was a glassy black orb, about the size of a softball.

The chapel, the stained-glass windows, the carved statues, the embellished columns, even the pedestal itself—all of it was just for show. That black orb was different. It buzzed with divine life and potent power. For Arbitrators like my buddy Arturo, the orb served as a conduit of prayer. According to Arturo, that was how the bounty system worked. When Mortka got ballsy enough to attack, priests would use the altars to contact Raguel, who would then disseminate bounties to Vigils. For priests, the altars served as a glorified interdimensional pay phone.

For people like me, it was something else entirely. For Vigils, it served as a doorway to their own, private pocket dimension.

Essence thrummed around me and the faint scent of ozone lingered in the air, precipitable only to my heightened senses. I slapped my palm up against the stone like I had so many times before. The whole world trembled and energy surged along my limbs. The Chapel of Valor fell away, and I abruptly found myself in a circular chamber of crystal, gold, and glass.

My Soul Vault, was equal parts Fortress of Solitude, Batcave, and private medieval cathedral.

Fluted columns rose up around me, connecting to a domed ceiling overhead that appeared to be made out of the same fabric as the universe itself. Pinpricks of starlight dusted the velvety backdrop, and when I focused hard enough, I could see galaxies spinning away in the distance. No matter how many times I came here, the sight of those endless constellations took my breath away. I was happy here, but every once in a while, I missed the rolling green hills of Kentucky. I missed my family and friends, missed barbecuing on a hot summer night while fireflies blinked on and off around me.

Looking at those stars reminded me that although I would never see those sights again, they weren’t gone. My momma was still out there in the vastness of space, laughing and drinking, and moving on with her life. At least I hoped so.

In the center of the main chamber was a modestly sized reflection pool of white marble, and filling the basin was the bluest water I’d ever seen, along with a pair of koi, one gold and one silver, swimming in graceful, looping arcs. Those fish were more than simple house pets—together, they represented the state of my body and soul. Silver for body, gold for soul. Both were looking fit and healthy, their fins sleek, their scales polished, their eyes bright.

Rotating in a slow and steady circle above the reflection pool was a perfect replica of myself. Same scars, same golden hair, and unnatural red eyes. Everything was identical, including my current armor set.

A stat screen appeared beside my floating avatar.

>>

Boyd Knight

Race: Vigil Bound

Level: Adept, Bronze Rank

Current Essence: 1,321

Next Ascended Rank: 35,000

Attribute Points: +4

Ward Points: +20

Characteristics

Brawn: 22

Verve: 21

Finesse: 19

Arcana: 25

Insight: 19

Vigil Wards

Ward of Justice: Soul Bound Weapons (Boon), Rend, Crippling Strike, Armor Evocation

Ward of Valor: Diamond Body (Boon), Combat Sense, Matchless Endurance

Ward of Wrath: Arcane Insight (Boon), Warded Shield, Arctic Spike

Ward of Balance: Language of the Heavens (Boon), Sidhe Pact, Fae Tether, Spectral Roots

Ward of Truth: Threads of Fate (Boon), Master Mentalist, Honeyed Words

Expand Ward List

>>

I whistled as I looked at the cost to ascend to Adept Silver. Goddamned. 35,000 Essence was an insane amount, especially considering that it had cost me only 7,500 Essence to move from Disciple Bronze to Silver. I’d been grinding out bounties and slaying monsters like it was going out of style since Ironmoor, and I hadn’t come close to hitting those kinds of numbers. Though, honestly, I wasn’t too stressed about advancing. I’d had a real come to Jesus’ moment of revelation after killing the Hexblight.

Thing was, I didn’t need to ascend. Not the way other Vigils needed to.

The benefit of ascending was two-fold. When a Vigil advanced from one rank to another, they gained +1 Free Attribute Point and +10 Ward Points to spend however in the hell they wanted. And when they jumped from one class to another, they got a bonus +3 Attribute Points and +20 Ward Points. Attribute Points were used to increase our base stats—Brawn, Verve, Finesse, Arcana, and Insight—which made us stronger, faster, more agile, and more capable of accessing and molding Arcana, which fueled spells.

Ward Points, on the other hand, could be used to unlock the various abilities located in each of the Five Vigil Wards: Justice, Valor, Balance, Wrath, and Truth. Those skills were what truly set Vigils apart and gave them the extraordinary magical spells and superhuman physical prowess that allowed them to hunt Mortka and not get dead. I was sure that most Vigils were highly incentivized to ascend through the classes as fast as humanly possible so they could unlock more and more Ward Points, which were finite and incredibly valuable.

Me though? Not so much.

Ward Points were still important, sure, but because I had the Threads of Fate Boon, I could Re-Spec my build once every twelve hours, reclaiming my spent Ward Points. Admittedly, doing that felt like skinny dipping in a vat of acid filled with ravenous, red-bellied piranhas, but it was worth the pain. Five minutes of wishing I was dead in exchange for recycling my points over and over and over again—changing my kit to suit whatever battle or monster I was facing—was one-thousand percent worth it.

Because of that flexibility, I didn’t need to power level. I just needed to play smart and that was exactly what I was doing.

There wasn’t any real way to get additional Ward Points, but that wasn’t the case for Ability Points. I only got one of those per level, but I could “Sacrifice” accumulated Essence to bump those Attributes up. A ten in any given category was equivalent to an average, healthy adult, while a score of nineteen was reserved for elite, Olympic-level athletes. With a Brawn score of 22, I was firmly into the superhuman territory. I could outlift the strongest strongmen, out run the fastest sprinters, and do agility routines that would make those plucky little gymnasts have a brain aneurysm.

Thing was, though, the more I elevated my Characteristic Stats, the more costly they became. For example, it cost 200 Essence to raise a given Stat from a ten to an eleven, 1,000 to go from eighteen to nineteen, and an eye-watering 3,100 points to make the jump from nineteen to twenty. None of the spells and abilities had a Level Requirement, but all of them had Recommended Attribute Requirements. So instead of focusing on Ascending, I’d been sacrificing all the Essence I could get my hands on to raise my Stats, while banking my Free Attribute Points. I’d spent those once my Stats got into the high twenties or low thirties.

As for my current build, I was running what I called my “Jack of All Traits Load Out,” which consisted of a wide variety of skills—some combat, others magical, many utility—taken from all five Wards. The build wasn’t optimal for anything, but it was great for a little bit of everything.

Rend and Crippling strike added bonuses to Melee damage and dealt some nasty debuffs that could lay low even powerful enemies. Armor Evocation, also from the Ward of Justice, was a utility skill that allowed me to swap armor sets stored in my Soul Vault. It also had the added benefit of using Arcana energies to scrub and mend my gear when I swapped it out, which was great after hacking apart a room full of Mortka. Combat Sense granted me preternatural reflexes in battle and Matchless Endurance let me fight through even debilitating pain while temporarily boosting my Verve and Health Regeneration Rate.

Warded Shield let me conjure a mystic dome that was a genuine lifesaver when shit hit the fan and Arctic Spike skewered my enemies while also slowing their movement rate. Master Mentalist heightened my senses off the field of combat and helped me subconsciously catch things other people would naturally miss. A twitch of the eyes, a pause in speech, an elevated heartrate, a nervous tic. All were signs that I could read with ease, allowing me to know when someone was up to their eyeballs in horseshit. I wasn’t Sherlock Holmes, but I’d make a damn fine Watson.

With Honey Words, I could talk my way out of just about anything, and if that didn’t work, I could always hold assholes in place with Spectral Roots before beating the ever-living shit out of them.

As for my last ability, Fae Tether, it had no direct combat application, but boy howdy did it make my life easier. And it was hard to put a price tag on convenience. So far, I hadn’t found any bags of holding which meant I had to lug around everything I scrounged and looted while monster hunting. Fae Tether allowed me to send items and relics directly into the Soul Vault no matter where I was. I couldn’t get items back out without making a trip to the Soul Vault, but after schlepping around a sack of reeking monster meat, I knew Fae Tether was worth every point.

I honestly didn’t know what Kerra was going to have me do come morning time, so I decided to leave things be for the now. But, I had unlocked twenty extra Ward Points and there was no reason to camp on those. Plus, I had a pretty damn good idea of what I wanted to use them for.

I hoofed it over to my library, grabbed my Grimoire of Virtues—a thick, leather-bound tome that described my various abilities—and flipped to the Expanded Ward List at the front of the book.

>>

Expanded Ward List

Ward of Justice Boon of Gadriel: Soul Bound Weapons (Unlocked) Ranged Weapon Mastery Overcharge; Cost: 4 Quick Hands; Cost: 6 Maximum Penetration; Cost: 9 Guided Shot; Cost: 15 Automated Sentinel; Cost: 20 Melee Weapon Mastery Rend; Cost: 3 Peerless Warrior; Cost: 5 Crippling Strike; Cost: 8 Festering Wound; Cost: 15 Juggernaut; Cost: 25 Warforged Mastery Armor Evocation; Cost: 6 Weapon Mastery: Unarmed; Cost 10 Weapon Mastery: Blades; Cost: 10 Weapon Mastery: Blunt; Cost: 10 Weapon Mastery: Range; Cost: 10 Ward of Valor Boon of Voch: Diamond Body (Unlocked) Bastion of the Protector Combat Sense; Cost: 4 Matchless Endurance; Cost: 6 Purity of Form; Cost: 10 Spiked Shell; Cost: 14 Unmoving Bulwark; Cost: 18 Bastion of the Healer Empathetic Healer; Cost: 5 Plague Doctor; Cost: 10 Heal Wounds; Cost: 15 Circle of Restoration; Cost: 20 True Resurrection; Cost: 27 Bastion of Presence Mantle of Strength; Cost: 5 Mantle of Authority; Cost: 8 Mantle of Sanctuary; Cost: 10 Mantle of Scales; Cost: 14 Mantle of Healing; Cost: 22 Ward of Balance Boon of Lero: Language of the Heavens (Unlocked) Bestial Magics: Totem Transformation; Cost: 2 Bestial Vigor; Cost: 5 Ravenous Feeding; Cost: 12 Rabid Infection; Cost: 18 Totem Bound; Cost: 22 Fae Magics Fae Tether; Cost: 4 SidhePact; Cost: 5 Pierce Veil; Cost: 10 Cunning Glamor; Cost: 12 Fae Footed: Cost: 28 Elemental Magics Spectral Roots; Cost: 4 Absorb Elements; Cost: 6 Water Wright; Cost: 10 Earth Sculptor; Cost: 10 Metallurgy Manipulation; Cost: 10 Ward of Wrath Boon of Thuriel: Arcane Insight (Unlocked) Path of Violence Warded Shield; Cost: 5 Kinetic Blast; Cost: 5 Unbound Blaze; Cost: 12 Arctic Spike; Cost: 12 Electro Arc; Cost: 12 Path of Retribution Upheaval; Cost: 12 Rain of Fire; Cost: 15 Storm Caller; Cost: 17 Circle of Banishment; Cost: 20 Raguel’s Divine Retribution; Cost: 30 Path of Death Life Siphon; Cost: 4 Soul Jar; Cost: 6 Mind Vault; Cost: 10 Ritual Reanimate; Cost: 22 Soul Storm; Cost: 28 Ward of Truth Boon of Akora: Threads of Fate (Unlocked) College of Rhetoric Master Mentalist; Cost: 4 Calm Emotions; Cost: 8 Honeyed Words; Cost: 10 Greater Suggestion; Cost: 16 Grave Communion; Cost: 24 College of Deception Stealth Step; Cost: 5 Deft Touch; Cost: 8 Wyld Wisdom; Cost: 15 Dream Thief; Cost: 15 Crystalline Shell; Cost: 25 College of Reason Sage Smith; Cost: 10 Mortka Forger; Cost: 10 Affinity Retrofitter; Cost: 10 Arcane Transmuter; Cost 10 Alchemic Mastery; Cost: 10

>>

I traced a finger down the page. Cunning Glamor, from the Ward of Balance. I riffled through the pages until I found the entry.

Cunning Glamor

Sight, smell, sound, touch, all are but wonderful tricks, played on the mind by the senses of the body. As the Fae know all too well, nothing is real, the physical least of all. By tapping into the deep magic of the Wylds, the Vigil can craft masterful illusions capable of fooling even those with the keenest of eyes and sharpest of minds.

Perfectly mask your appearance. Unleash blinding lights and thunderous sounds to disorient the senses. Conjure a flawless image of an object, a creature, or even a place that seems baffling real to the unimitated—the only limitation is the imagination and the strength of your magic. Illusions, whether whimsical or terrifying, appear, sound, and even smell real but cannot touch or harm the physical.

Recommended Attribute Minimums: Insight, 20; Arcana, 24

The recommended Insight Minimum was higher than what I had at the moment, but so long as I had my Grass Hound armor equipped, I’d be fine.

And, after reading over the description, I decided I couldn’t afford not to have it.

If I wanted to get to the bottom of these killings, I was going to have to do some serious digging and with the way that the people of Wildespell treated Vigils, there was no way I would be able to get the info I needed. At least, not without alerting the Mortka hunting the city that I was on its trail. Anything that was bold enough to prowl these streets and powerful enough to kill an experienced Vigil was probably punching outside my weight class. Which meant I needed the element of surprise if I was going to stand any chance at all of walking away from a confrontation.

I needed to keep my cards close to my chest for as long as possible. With Cunning Glamor, I could look like anyone and could go anywhere without attracting. At twelve points, it was expensive, but given my current predicament, it was a must have. That left me eight points. I really wanted Mantle of Scales, but at fourteen points, it was out of reach for the time being. I briefly kicked around Overcharge, which let me deal 10% extra damage with ranged projectiles, but finally decided to go with a tried-and-true option.

Kinetic Blast

Draw from your Arcana Pool to unleash a blast of primal, concentrated force directly at a given target. Although this is among the most basic techniques in the Wrath Ward, it has innumerable uses and can be deadly effective against enemies of all levels. The maximum force you can exert is directly tied to your available Arcana Pool.

Recommended Attribute Minimums: Arcana, 14; Finesse, 15

Kinetic Blast wasn’t as flashy something like Unbound Blaze or Storm Caller, but it was a solid heavy hitter. With a thought I could conjure a battering ram of pure force capable of breaching doors, taking down walls, or sending an unlucky enemy flying like a line drive. In my experience, it was also a great spell to have tucked away up my sleeve in case I found myself in a corner with my back against the wall. And, since I’d jacked my Arcana up to 25, I could get some real mileage out of the Kinetic Blast before running dry.

Satisfied with my upgrades, I dismissed my Character Sheet then suppressed a yawn. It had been several weeks since my last trip into my Soul Vault—altars could be damned hard to find in the smaller backwater towns—and I wanted to take stock of all the shit I’d accumulated. But I was tired as hell, it had been a brutally long day, I had to be up balls early to train with Kerra, and I still didn’t know where my room was.

Doing an inventory check would just have to wait.