Dawn Walker

Meanwhile outside the city, Butler Stephen entered Mihos’s camp much faster than he normally allowed himself to move.

He did not run. A man who had served powerful nobles for as long as Stephen had did not suddenly begin running through a camp unless death was directly behind him. Even so, the guards noticed the difference immediately. His steps were longer, his face was tighter, and he did not stop when one of the outer attendants tried to ask whether he wished to announce himself first.

He pushed through the entrance of Mihos’s pavilion.

"Young master."

Mihos was standing near the main table, looking through the newest information from Slik City. He had already been waiting for news from Iron House. Dickoff had returned to his mansion with the black wooden box, and enough time had passed that Sekhmet should eventually make his move. Mihos had been impatient, but there had also been confidence beneath that impatience. The object he had handed Dickoff was not something that should have existed in the hands of a lower-domain house master.

That confidence disappeared when Mihos saw Stephen’s face.

"What happened?"

Stephen stopped in front of the table.

"The seed."

Mihos’s eyes narrowed.

Stephen took one breath before continuing.

"The seed’s chaos presence disappeared."

For a moment, Mihos did not understand.

Then his expression changed completely.

"What do you mean disappeared?"

"I cannot feel it anymore."

Mihos stepped around the table.

"You were tracking it."

"Yes, young master."

"Then track it again."

Stephen did not move.

"I already did."

That answer was enough to make the air inside the pavilion heavier.

Stephen had not trusted Dickoff with an object of that value without keeping some method of sensing it. The black wooden box itself was ancient, but Stephen had placed a tracking mark around its inner seal long before Dickoff received it. Even after Dickoff activated the object, Stephen should still have been able to sense the strange chaos signature from a great distance.

He had sensed it when Dickoff returned to Iron House.

He had sensed it when the first chaos stones began feeding the object.

He had sensed the power increasing.

Then, without warning, the presence had vanished.

Not weakened.

Not faded.

Vanished.

Mihos grabbed the edge of the table.

"That is impossible."

Stephen lowered his head slightly.

"I do not understand it either. One moment the chaos presence was there. It was stronger than before. The next moment there was nothing."

"Did the artifact break? What am I saying? It can’t be destroyed. It’s an origin class artifact."

"You are right."

"Did Dickoff die?"

"I cannot tell."

Mihos’s fingers tightened around the wood.

That answer was even worse.

If Dickoff had died while holding the object, Stephen should still have sensed the seed unless it had been destroyed completely. If the object had been destroyed, the amount of chaos energy released should have been enormous enough for half the city to notice.

There had been no report of such an explosion.

Mihos suddenly shoved the table away from himself.

It struck the floor hard enough to knock several documents onto the ground.

"We are going to Iron House."

Stephen looked up.

"Young master?"

"Now."

Mihos turned toward the pavilion entrance.

"We find the seed before anyone else touches it."

Stephen followed him with his eyes but did not immediately move.

"Young master, if Sekhmet has already reached Iron House—"

"I do not care."

The answer came so sharply that Stephen stopped speaking.

Mihos turned back toward him.

"You know what will happen if that thing disappears."

Stephen knew.

That was why he had come here personally instead of sending a messenger.

Mihos continued, "My grandfather wanted it himself."

The words came through clenched teeth.

"He personally ordered us to obtain it. Do you remember how many people we paid? How many routes have we changed? How many people had to disappear before that box reached our hands? We killed so many people I can’t remember the numbers and faces."

Stephen answered quietly. "I remember them. But that is not important."

"I don’t care about the number and faces. We need to find it."

"Yes, young master."

"We did not come here because of Iron House."

"No."

Mihos’s anger rose with every sentence.

"We came here because of that object."

Stephen said nothing.

Mihos looked toward the entrance again.

"If I return and tell my grandfather I lost it because I handed it to a useless lower-domain idiot to kill Sekhmet, he will not care that Sekhmet annoyed me. He will not care about the game. He will ask me where the seed is."

Stephen knew that was exactly what would happen.

Mihos’s grandfather had wanted the object enough to send people across domains to obtain it. He ordered to kill everyone who knew about it and saw the seed. The fact that Mihos had brought it into this conflict had already been a dangerous decision. Losing it would be much worse.

Mihos shouted toward the entrance.

"Prepare everyone who can move quickly. We leave immediately."

The guards outside answered at once.

Stephen finally bowed.

"Yes, young master."

He turned to leave, but Mihos spoke again.

"Stephen."

The butler stopped.

"If Dickoff is alive and he lost it..."

Mihos did not finish the sentence. He did not need to.

Stephen bowed again and left.

Within minutes, Mihos’s camp began changing. Guards moved between tents. Beasts were prepared. Riders mounted. The quieter atmosphere of the early morning disappeared as a group began forming around the central pavilion.

Mihos stood outside and looked toward Slik City.

For the first time since this game with Sekhmet began, he was no longer thinking about winning.

He was thinking about recovering the thing they had actually come to the lower domain to obtain.

Far away from Mihos’s camp, the missing chaos presence had not disappeared because the strange black seed had been destroyed.

It had disappeared because it was no longer in the same dimension.

Dickoff was inside the Void Land.

Sofia and Natasha had taken him far away from every inhabited part of Sekhmet’s territory.

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