As the guards closed in on the dead-end alley, it became more and more apparent that they were moving to surround Kaldalis, and not the assassin.

“Wait, what?” Kaldalis stammered. He started to instinctively back away from the advancing guards. “I’m not the bad guy here, this guy was just trying to fucking kill me!”

The guards were visibly unmoved by his plea, menacing him with weapons that seemed more threatening than the grim faces of their wielders. There was a chuckle from the ground nearby as the guards stepped past the assassin, all but ignoring him.

“Bad luck, kid,” the assassin said, wiping blood from his nose before making a hasty exit.

“He’s getting away!” Kaldalis yelled at the guards, pointing. “He’s an assassin and you’re just letting him walk away?”

“He’s the city watch’s concern,” the lead guard said, “you’re ours.”

“You’re not the city watch?” Kaldalis said. He spared a glance at their armor. It didn’t look any different from what he’d seen on the other guards, but he hadn’t given any of them a close examination. “Who the fuck are you, then?”

“Don’t play dumb,” one of the other guards snapped. She was moving around to the left quickly, as the others moved to encircle him. “You know perfectly well why we’re here.”

“Not even a little!” Kaldalis forced himself to stop backing away, allowing them to surround him. “Just tell me what’s going on. I’m trying to cooperate, but I’m really confused right now.” The worst thing to do right now would be to escalate this, so further resistance might rapidly become fatal.

“Don’t listen to him,” the lead guard snapped to the others. “It’s not our job to pass any kind of judgement, it’s our job to make sure he doesn’t escape before the real judge gets here.”

Kaldalis didn’t like the sound of that. Almost as much as he didn’t like that the Assassin was long gone, leaving no trace to help Kaldalis track down who was after Garyung. His bruises throbbed all that much more knowing they were in vain.

He hoped that Garyung might show up and throw his weight around a little to get him loose. But apparently that wasn’t in the cards. It wasn’t long before another group arrived, and they were apparently the group the guards were waiting for. Once they arrived, the guard with the wind chime-staff stopped shaking it, and the circle of guards surrounding Kaldalis parted to allow this new group to approach.

There were seven people in this new group, and only four of them were armed and armored - an apparent escort for the other three, who were slimmer figures in ornate green-and-gold robes. The one in the middle was a tall Talsar carrying some kind of ornate scepter on his hip. This one approached Kaldalis, peering at him curiously, as if he were an animal in a cage.

“Uh,” Kaldalis said, slightly anxious to be the one to break the silence. “So what’s going on? What’s this about? Who even are you?”

“You dare-” one of the robed figures began.

“Hold,” the man with the scepter said, raising a hand to silence his companion. He glanced at one of the guards. “Has it given you any trouble?”

“He was a bit mouthy when we got here,” the lead guard said, “but he hasn’t used force or anything.”

“If it’s not resisting, then perhaps we can entertain a question or two,” the man with the scepter said. One hand dropped to that scepter, fingers tracing one of the small gems set into the head. “I’m here now, and I wouldn’t have this job if I were afraid of dealing with these things.”

“I’m a person,” Kaldalis said, crossing his arms. “Not a thing.”

“Sure,” the man said with a condescending smile. “So ask a question, then. I’ll answer yours if you’ll answer mine.”

“Yeah, that seems pretty standard,” Kaldalis said. “So who are you?”

“A simple question,” the man said with a smirk. “I’m The Contender.”

Kaldalis remembered hearing that word before. It was what Onirioago had threatened him with when he’d first used Kaia’s Flicker in front of her. So that was what this was all about. He didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it didn’t bode well for the next few hours of his day.

“Let me ask a simple one in response,” the Contender continued. “What did you do?”

“That’s not a simple question at all,” Kaldalis pointed out. “All I did was use an ability. I had to in order to avoid dying after putting myself in harm’s way to save my friend from the assassin you knuckleheads let escape.”

The Contender gave the lead guard a glance, and he just shrugged. “Bystanders said he up and vanished into thin air for a second. Seemed like your kind of thing.”

“It must be,” the Contender said, turning his attention back to Kaldalis. “What kind of ability did you use? How does it work?”

“That’s another question,” Kaldalis said with a smirk. “Don’t I get another one first?”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to ask anything further,” the contender said. A flick of his fingers, and the four guards who accompanied him drew their War Weapons as well. Unfortunately, Kaldalis was forced to admit that the man had a point.

“Okay, I don’t know exactly how it works,” Kaldalis admitted. “But when I activate it, it takes me to another place briefly. It’s called the Paths Between Paths, and it only sends me there for a moment. Long enough to dodge an attack.”

“Where are these Paths?” The contender asked. “What are they like?”

“Likely fiery and full of horrors,” one of the other robed figures muttered. The contender silenced him again with a sharp glare.

“Nowhere,” Kaldalis said, “like, literally nowhere. It’s just an empty black void. No air, no light, nothing. I just float in empty space until I come back.”

Kaldalis suddenly realized that honesty might not be the best policy here. Onirioago had accepted the Lataxinan abilities after just a moment of explanation, but she was probably not the best guide on what was legally acceptable. All he could reasonably do right now, though was just keep talking. From the way the Talsar’s slit-pupiled eyes were sizing him up, Kaldalis suspected that any attempt to lie was going to get sniffed out really quickly. Just as he suspected a single gesture from a clawed finger would cause the assembled guards to descend upon him with their War Weapons.

“You’re an adventurer, aren’t you?” the Contender asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Kaldalis said, suddenly wondering if he’d already given away that he was a PC or not. He shuddered to think how rapidly things would deteriorate if they found out, if what he’d faced so far was the way they treated NPCs. “I was on the expedition that left here last month. The Ulun Isles, I think they were called.”

The contender tapped his chin slowly, nodding. “I remember the expedition. There was some mess around it, wasn’t there? Something about the leadership?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kaldalis said. “But that’s… Not important.”

“So what is important?” The Contender leaned in closer to Kaldalis.

“The, uh, ability I got, right?” Kaldalis asked. “Isn’t that what this is about, right?”

“I suppose,” the Contender said slowly. “So why do you think this ability is normal?”

Kaldalis was going to ask why anybody thought any ability was supposed to be normal. A shield didn’t stop damage until you had hit things with a sword an arbitrary number of times. A spear let him fly through the air like a giant cricket. But that didn’t seem constructive to this conversation, and was likely going to just out him as a PC if he tried to point out the dissonance.

He did remember the argument that had gotten him out of trouble with Onirioago, though.

“I earned it,” Kaldalis said. “It came from a dungeon. There were ruins around these strange tablets. When I examined the tablet, I learned the ability.”

“From some foul temple?” one of the other robed figures demanded. “A black ziggurat to some ancient-”

Again the Contender cut off the other priest. “Let it speak. We will have our answers, and they will come on my timetable. Not yours.”

“Again, not a big fan of being called ‘it’ here,” Kaldalis said. “I have a name. And pronouns.”

“One thing at a time,” the Contender said with a smirk. “Where were these tablets? What sort of building?”

“A library,” Kaldalis said quickly. “Big fancy stone building in a ruined city. There were scrolls there that we brought back to the researchers. If you have any concerns, I’m sure they could tell you more.”

“Don’t worry,” the Contender said, “we’ll talk to them when the time is right. So you think this ability is normal because it was in a library? What kind of libraries do you usually go to?”

“Not ones in the ruins of a city of long-dead people,” Kaldalis snapped. “I think I get a pass on that. I fought through hordes of giant insects, got lost in a horrible maze, and wrestled a giant bat monster. It didn’t seem that unusual to be rewarded for that with a useful ability.”

The Contender tapped his chin a few times, thinking through the response. He had a smirk, and Kaldalis wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign.

“I think,” the Contender began, “that we’ve gotten all the answers we’re going to get here.”

“You could probably find one of our researchers at the library,” Kaldalis said. “She might have more answers for you.”

“You seem to misunderstand,” the Contender said. “I didn’t mean we were done getting answers for you. Only that we’re not going to get them here in a dark alleyway.” The contender gestured, and the guards formed ranks around Kaldalis. “Come on, then. I’m sure my office will be a much nicer setting for this discussion.”