A Hand-Woven Universe

Noone watched with an even expression. The ground was now doubly-littered with corpses and Sarah stood in it all covered in blood not unlike Noone. The blood showed up less on her black armor compared to his clothes.

On that thought, Noone looked down on his clothes and grimaced. He pondered how he would ever get himself clean by morning.

Sarah"s breathing came out in ragged gasps and she stood with the head of her pole-mace resting on the ground, not wanting to muster the strength to keep it lifted.

Her fight had lasted twice as long as Noone"s but otherwise had actually gone very similarly.

Sarah had managed to dispatch the first eight or so bandits with relative ease, especially with the help of her summoned weapon - the chains. But after that the bandits began to organize themselves. Sarah had to be much more careful to avoid being ambushed.

It wasn"t until only three people were left did, she really hit a snag.

A hammer hit her side, knocking the wind out of her with such force she could barely take her next breath. By this point her summoned weapon had reached it"s time-limit and she couldn"t maintain it anymore either.

This left her facing the bandit"s one on three, and they were organized, mad and already surrounding her.

Noone stepped away from the wall and prepared to rush in at the first sign of trouble. There was no Clayton in sight so he figured it was up to him, however, much to Noone"s surprise Sarah didn"t need his help.

With seeming recklessness, Sarah hoisted her weapon in both of her hands and rushed the person who had taken the lead. A large and rough looking bandit wielding a simple sword and shield with deadly efficiency.

As soon as she rushed him, he brought his shield up to block her strike, a malicious smile painted his face marred by a deep scar across his cheek.

The other two bandits surrounded Sarah, quickly moving behind her to strike her while she attacked him. Noone was preparing to use his divine sense to disorient them for just long enough for Sarah to escape from the closing circle.

However, at this moment, Noone noticed a red light begin to develop from the head of Sarah"s weapons. The weighted bladed mace-head began to shine with the red glow of steel being pulled from a forge.

The speed at which this occurred left no one with a chance to react. Suddenly, her weapon struck the man"s shield. Not only did the force behind her strike cause the man to wince in pain – but the moment her weapon contacted the reinforced metal and wood shield, it burst into flames as though it had been dropped into a fire.

Immediately the man screamed in pain, his arm was trapped within the fiery shield. He frantically backed up and began to try and rip the shield off, the metal burning into his arm.

Noone"s eyes were wide in surprise. Was this another of Sarah"s spells? Noone knew she should have three like Feylin, but until now he had only seen her use two. Summoning her chains, and a healing touch. This, Noone thought, must be the third.

The scrambling of the bandit who intercepted her strike gave Sarah enough leeway to break free from the pincer attack behind her and instead face her two attackers head on.

Seeing what happened to the man with the sword and shield, the other two bandits hesitated – eyes staring at the glowing red weapon in Sarah"s hands.

Sarah grit her teeth and gave the two no chance to strategize before setting herself on them. Her eyes were narrow with anger.

They didn"t last long.

And neither did the last bandit, who was curled into a ball nursing his burnt arm which was now nothing more than a black twig.

Now that it was over, standing among all the death and miasma made it hard for Sarah to catch her breath. she slowly trudged over to Noone

"You make it look so easy…" Sarah spoke, taking deep breaths before and after as she composed herself.

Noone could only smile wryly.

"Well… I"m still only human." Noone joked dryly. Sarah looked at Noone but only returned an exhausted smirk.

"How long do we have?" Sarah asked, glancing back at the fire keeping the… The bandits. They were gone.

Noone smiled. "They ran off at the end of your fight." Noone said nonchalantly. "They"re Clayton"s problem now." He quietly pondered where Clayton might be at this moment. Most a.s.suredly deep inside of the caves by now.

As Sarah caught her breath, Noone began rummaging through the corpses, checking pockets and feeling for valuables. Gradually he collected about a couple dozen gold between them. Almost three times as much as he got from the bandits he had killed.

He could only smile wryly as he returned to Sarah, handing her a sack filled with 30 gold coins. Sarah caught it, surprised by the weight as it landed in her hands.

"Looks like you got the rich one"s." Noone said, enjoying the shock on her face. Sarah stammered for a moment as she counted the gold.

"Are all bandit"s so rich?" She couldn"t help but ask in surprise. Noone shrugged.

"No, not all. I only got 8 gold coin – mostly in silvers at that." He said.

Sarah thought about this, weighing the bag in her hand.

"Would you like to…" Before Sarah could finish, Noone raised his hand, cutting her off.

"That"s not necessary. You killed them, they"re yours. Besides if Clayton is any good to his word there should be some stuff inside that we can collect for money afterwards. a.s.suming he doesn"t take it all, that is." Noone joked.

Sarah could only smile sheepishly at this. The contrast of Sarah"s angelic pale face, smiling sheepishly, and covered in drying blood gave Noone a pause.

Seeming to notice Noone staring, Sarah quickly looked away and attempted to use her sleeve to wipe most the blood from her face.

"So how long do we have before the fire dies down?" Sarah asked, having cleaned up as much as she could.

"Two minutes." Noone said, in hundred percent certainty. Thanks to his cultivation, Noone"s mind had become an impeccable iron trap for some things. His thought speed had increased, his memories were st.u.r.dier, and his sense of time had become as consistent as a clock.

Sarah nodded.

The two waited out the fire before entering the caves. The walls smelt like soil and stone, and Noone couldn"t help but immediately feel at home within the cavernous halls.

He breathed a deep sigh, taking in the almost-stale air.

Sarah noticed Noone"s demeanor change slightly but chose to say nothing.

After pa.s.sing through various corridors the two noticed two things.

One, the inside was silent. There were no bandits in sight, no noise from life, and no corpses that they could find. It wasn"t until they had pa.s.sed deeper into the cavern that they finally heard a noise.

It was whistling.

Noone tensed, readying his axes, but Sarah put a hand on his arm and smiled.

"Clayton!" She called. Noone frowned at this, but trusted her that she wouldn"t call out unless she was certain who it was. Then again, he couldn"t imagine anyone but Clayton whistling in this situation.

"Sarah?" Clayton"s voice. Footsteps padded around the corner, and soon the black armored Clayton was in full view. "And Noone!" He smiled, for a moment Noone thought he was genuinely happy to see them.

"You don"t have to worry in here, I"ve already eliminated everyone." Clayton smiled, almost innocent seeming, like a farmer talking about his long day removing insects from his fields. Rewarding work, Noone was sure.

Noone and Sarah both nodded, and Sarah began to talk before Clayton stopped her, they would talk after.
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"I still have a bit more evidence I need to collect." Clayton said, hefting his backpack in the process. "Let"s meet up in the front when I"m done. In the meantime, Sarah, you can come with me. Noone." Clayton smiled. "Since you stuck around, I promised you some rewards. I"ve been collecting the gold, but I will split it evenly between us after. However… if you go down this hall five rooms and then to the left, you will come across a room with a large iron door. I think you will be pleased if you go there." A well-meaning smile crossed his lips when he saw Noone nod at his advice.

Clayton and Sarah split up from Noone who began walking down the dark torch-lit hallways. He kept his divine sense spread looking for any possible nook and crannies that might be hidden in the dark, an aspect of cave system living Noone was extremely used to.

It wasn"t long before Noone arrived at the door Clayton had mentioned.

"Well then…" Noone smiled. "Let"s see what we have."

He pushed the door open which ended up requiring a considerable amount of strength even for Noone. Finally, though, the large steel door opened the full way and the torch light from the halls spilled into the room. Immediately Noone"s eyes went wide.

There were no jewels or riches.

It was an armory.

The room was filled with stolen weapons. Gathered through the years by the bandits holding up and overpowering everyone from n.o.bles unfortunate enough to come this far south, to adventurers ensured to have at least moderate level gear.

Noone grabbed a torch from the hallway and spread his divine sense.

Suddenly, a smile stretched on his face. He couldn"t help but give an audible chuckle.

"So that"s how it is…"