Chapter 25: Chapter 25: “Friends”

Valen took Enid’s car back to the Nocturnal District. This time Enid was in the backseat with Valen while Louise, her official new chauffeur, drove propped up by a cushion she ‘borrowed’ from the hotel so that she wasn’t strangled by her own seatbelt. 

Louise had unfortunately decided to take a lower paycheck if it meant not having to dress up in a uniform. Which was a shame, because Valen was sure she would’ve looked quite dashing in a suit.

Enid scrolled through Chirper on her phone during the ride. Valen always thought had the potential to become quite popular on the platform if she wanted to. 

The most followed users on Chirper tended to be either ridiculously attractive or absurdly rich, both traits that she had in spades. What she lacked was any real interest in amassing popularity in the first place. 

Her account didn’t even use her real name. It was called “Electrocutie”, a handle Valen helped pick for her, had a kitten for a profile pic, and was mainly used for looking at memes with the occasional news article in between.

This time though, her timeline was filled with nothing but #FreeValen post, which were now joined by #ValenIsFree and, oddly enough, something called #Claren and #CaveBat.

“Looks like news of your release finally got out,” said Enid. “Your fangirls are creaming themselves.”

A dirty feeling crept up Valen’s spine. “I have fangirls?”

“Yeah. Quite a few shippers too.”

Louise snorted out a laugh in the driver’s seat.

“Oh yeah.” Amusement intermingled with disgust in Louise’s voice. “I had a good laugh looking at some of those posts.”

“Who the hell are they shipping me with?” Valen’s gut told him he probably didn’t want to know the answer, but at the same time he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Clarence’s sister,” said Enid. “It’s that influencer girl. Clara, Dark Damsel, whatever the hell she calls herself.”

“Her fanbase thinks you two should hook up,” said Louise. “They’re also split on the ship name between Claren and Cave Bat. Personally, I prefer Cave Bat.”

“I’d prefer if you have no preference for either,” said Valen grimly.

“What, is she not your type?” Louise teased. “Tits not big enough for you?”

“That’s not it!” Valen felt his face flush red. “I mean, I don’t even know her.”

“Let’s just hope none of her simps are in this organisation Johan’s inviting us to.” Enid stopped scrolling and put her phone back into her coat. “You’re getting a lot of hate from them too.”

Valen let out a dejected sigh. “Of course I am.”

The digital clock on the dashboard neared midnight as Louise parked the luxury car masquerading as a plain sedan in front of Vinnie’s Vintages. Although a painted wooden sign at the door read “Closed” in barely readable faded letters, the dull orange glow of an electric chandelier within the antique store suggested the presence of its owner.

Louise was the first to unbuckle her seatbelt. She pulled out the bowen knife she’d bought from Johan and ran a claw down the edge of the blade to examine its sharpness.

“I trust Johan,” she said, sliding the knife back into the leather sheath strapped to the small of her back. “But I can’t say the same for whatever group of rich arseholes he’s taking us to meet. Get ready to fight, just in case.”

“I still have my butterfly swords,” said Valen.

“And I’m still a living taser.” Enid pushed open the car door. “Come one. There’s no time to waste.”

The three of them walked through the shabby doors of the antique shop.

This time, Johan was already awake reading a gaming magazine behind his counter. Upon hearing the door open, he looked up at Valen with a smile that quickly faded into a frown the moment he noticed Louise and Enid were with him.

“Oh.” Johan set his magazine on the counter and stood upon stool for some much needed height. “You, uh, brought your girlfriends with you.”

“They’re not my-”

Enid cut Valen off before he could finish.

“Is that going to be a problem?” she asked bluntly.

“Aw, shit.” Johan rubbed the back of his head. “How do I put this? Did Valen tell you about…you know?”

“The secret organisation, guild, or whatever it is you’re a part of?” asked Louise. “Yeah. He did. We’re here to take you up on your offer.”

“Ah, well, about that.” Johan clasped his hands together in front of his face as if in prayer. “You see, that offer was kind of only meant for Valen.”

Valen blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah, sorry for not being clearer on that,” said Johan sheepishly. “I was a bit distracted by the burger.”

A moment of awkward silence fell upon them.

“You do realise that there’s nothing you can do to stop us from coming too, right?” asked Louise, breaking the silence.

“...Yeah…” Johan slumped his shoulders. “...Yeah…”

Valen cleared his throat. 

“So, do we have to go somewhere now?” he asked. “Because we can take Enid’s car if you’d like.”

Johan immediately seemed to perk up.

“No need for that!” He hopped off his stool and walked right out under his counter. “Follow me, I’ve got something awesome to show you.”

Johan led them deeper into the old antique shop, which was turning out to be a lot larger than any of them expected. The place seemed to get darker and darker the further they went, the shadows cast by its ancient relics engulfing them a little more with every step they took away from the dull orange glow of the electric chandelier that struggled to illuminate the store by itself. 

Louise didn’t have much trouble traversing the tightly packed shelves and cluttered displays on account of having night vision and being barely any taller than Johan himself.

Enid, on the other hand, clung onto Valen’s arm as they walked, squinting all the while in the nonexistent light. She’d always been a bit on the clumsy side. It would be far too easy for her to bump into something and as rich as she was, no amount of money could buy back a priceless antique if she were to knock one over and break it.

Valen led her through the dark with his nocturnal eyes pointed straight ahead of them, keeping them far, far away from the giant bosom he could feel pressing right against his arm. He tried to focus on the texture of her trenchcoat’s fabric instead, and when that inevitably led to wondering if the softness he felt really was just the fabric, attempted to fill his mind with clean thoughts. 

Like what he was going to cook for dinner later, what his new dissertation subject should be, and a quick mental review of every targetable weak point in the humanoid body in case he needed to fight. Important stuff.

Johan stopped in front of a door in the very back of the antique shop. It wasn’t particularly big or small, was made of wood, and looked entirely unremarkable. The thing didn’t even have a lock on it.

“Here it is!” exclaimed Johan proudly, gesturing towards the door. “The answer to all our problems.”

Valen, Enid, and Louise simultaneously blinked. Valen looked at Louise, who looked at Enid, who looked at Louise.

“Oookay…?” Louise pushed open the wooden door.

The moment she did, the smell of mould and expired cleaning solution immediately wafted from the room to assault their nostrils.

Enid squinted into the room, unable to make anything out in the darkness. “What’s inside?”

“Cleaning supplies, mostly.” Valen looked down at Johan with concern. “Are you feeling okay, Jo?”

“Unremarkable, innit?” said Johan, still sounding smug. “That’s the brilliance of it. This door is enchanted but you would never know by looking at it.”

Enid grimaced. “I would’ve sensed it if there was magic in this thing.”

“That’s because the magic is inert.” Johan reached into his dress shirt and pulled out an odd looking silver key on a necklace. “This is what activates it.”

“A key?” Valen looked the door up and down again. “But there isn’t a keyhole.”

“Which is why no one will suspect it!” said Johan. “It’s brilliant!”

“Okay then?” Louise scratched the back of her head and closed the door. “How does it work then?”

“Well, you see, the key part is just a distraction.” Johan twisted the handle of the key, which popped off like a bottle cap to reveal a long, needle-like blade that’d been hidden in the key shaft. “This is the real key.”

Johan stabbed the blade into the door and dragged it across the wood. Instead of scratching, a thin line of shining silver light trailed behind the tip of the blade like light seeping in from a torn canopy.

Valen felt the pins and needles of magical static prickle his skin. The sensation only grew with each new line Johan drew on the door, all of them connecting with one another to form a seven-pointed star identical to the one that made up the fake key handle.

The moment the last line connected, at least a dozen other magical glyphs lit up on the door, awoken by the final piece in its previously invisible equation.

Valen couldn’t make heads or tails of any of it, but Enid’s icy blue eye lit up with recognition.

“Those glyphs.” Enid stepped back from the door, prompting Valen and Louise to do the same. “A portal spell?”

Johan’s smirk somehow grew larger and he pushed the glowing door open. Rather than the musty old storage room from before, now it showed the hallways of what looked like the richly furnished hallway of a grand manor lit by ornate silver chandeliers glowing with calm blue light.

Pitch black velvet embroidered with faintly shining silver made up the closed curtains and carpet. Painted portraits of men in fine anachronistic clothes adorned the dark blue wallpaper. Standing proudly and slightly condescendingly among them were elves, halflings, and even a few vampires, though a noticeable majority of them seemed to be either mages or humans.

Johan stepped into the hallway with a skip in his step. “Come on in!”

Louise was the first to follow him. She squeezed the soft velvet beneath her between her white wolven toes.

“Where are we?”

“This is the Sterling Sanctum,” said Johan. “It’s my organisation’s base of operations.”

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“Okay, but where is it?” Louise asked again. “Don’t tell me that portal took us to Jade Port or something.”

“I…” Johan’s chipper demeanour somewhat lessened. “...Actually, I don't know either. That sort of info’s above my paygrade.”

Valen stepped into the hallway along with Enid, who for some reason still clung to his arm despite the hallway being clearly visible now. 

He couldn’t blame her for being uneasy though. They were in an unfamiliar place on the other side of a magic portal door in a shady antique shop run by a guy she’d only met a couple days ago. Anybody would have alarm bells ringing in their heads right about now. If push comes to shove, Valen was more than willing to shield her from whatever danger might pop up so she had enough time to electrocute it. He’ll heal from anything as long as his head and heart were intact anyways.

Enid approached a nearby window with cautious steps, dragging Valen along with her. She drew back the curtains just a little bit to make sure there was no sunlight on the other side before opening it entirely.

Outside the window were rolling hills overlooking a dark ocean engulfed by a tranquil night. If Valen focused, he could even hear the waves crashing against the rocks of a distant shore. Enid turned her eye upwards and Valen could’ve sworn he heard her heart beat faster for a moment.

Valen followed her gaze and found himself also surprised by what he saw.

When he lived in the Nocturnal District, the sky to him was nothing but a giant dome of dark glass that protected him during the light of day. When he lived with Enid in the financial district, the sky was a greyish black haze overshadowed by the sights and sounds below it.

But here, he saw the night like he’d never seen it before. Clusters of stars speckled the stygian heavens above them, fully visible to the naked eye without city lights polluting it. Though tiny by themselves, each individual light of every distant star added up to form a single breathtaking spectacle against a backdrop of dark blues and deep purples.

There was something that looked like a giant gash in the sky with glimmering violet spilling out of it. Valen was no astronomer, but he guessed that must’ve been the neighbouring galaxy, where some believe the gods moved to after leaving the world.

A part of Valen suddenly felt ashamed for calling himself a child of night when he’d never seen it in its true beauty before until now. He could sit there with a canvas and easel trying to capture its majesty for hours if given the chance.

The sound of Johan clearing his throat jolted him from his stupor.

“I know this is probably a romantic sight and all,” said Johan, sounding slightly annoyed. “But we kind of have a meeting to attend to?”

A teasing grin found its way to Louise’s face. “Yeah, you lovebirds can look at the stars some other time.”

“Shut it, Snowball.” Enid tightened her grip around Valen’s arm. “Let’s just go.”

Johan led them down the seemingly endless halls of the gigantic manor. The further they walked, the clearer it became that the place wasn’t really built to function as a normal residence.

The very hallway they walked on split into multiple winding corridors that often turned at odd angles and sometimes expanded and contracted without rhyme or reason. At one point they had to briefly line up a single file to comfortably squeeze through an especially narrow hallway.

Even the old portraits of presumably dead men hanging on the walls soon gave way to more interesting decorations. Stuff like display stands of knightly plate armour, weapons mounted on ornate plaques, and the occasionally taxidermied beast.

What once looked like a mansion befitting an aristocrat slowly but surely devolved into something more akin to a high-end funhouse.

“This place is fucking weird,” Louise muttered upon being led up a long spiral staircase set in the middle of a wide empty crossroad between hallways of varying width.

Looking up, they could see nothing past the hole where the staircase ended. Only the dark blue ceiling around it, decorated by specks of white meant to mimic stars against a night sky.

“Learning the layout’s part of the initiation,” said Johan. “Took me quite a while to remember the way around here too.”

“So where are we going exactly?” Valen asked. “Are we going for an interview or something?”

“That would usually be the case for new initiates, but for your special case I’ve managed to convince the big boss to meet us privately.” Johan muttered the next part under his breath. “Hopefully he won’t mind the girls.”

“By the way,” said Enid on the way up the stairs. “How’d you get the portal spell to work? Modern mages still know the glyphs for it but can’t get it to work for some reason. I’d assumed that it was tied to the gods somehow so it stopped working when they left.”

“It’s the material of the door itself,” Johan explained. “I don’t know the exact details but the door that holds the glyphs has to also be engraved on a particular type of wood that’s now extinct. Apparently back then the merchants who knew about it overharvested the trees for easy to carry portal scrolls that burned up after use.”

“How come your organisation has them then?” Valen asked. “Actually, does it even have a name?”

“It’s called the Silver Star Society,” said Johan. “Named after the silver star of the north that used to guide merchants in the old days during long travels.”

“So it’s a merchant’s guild?” Louise asked. “Would explain how you seem to have enough money for this pointlessly complicated pisshole.”

“Of sorts,” said Johan as they neared the top of the stairs. “The founders were the world’s richest merchants who saw the end of the Age of Gods and decided to come together to keep the world from imploding on itself while it adapted to life without gods.”

“It sounds noble when you put it like that,” said Valen, still a little suspicious. “But I’m fairly certain most of the world has moved on at this point.”

“Yeah,” said Johan sheepishly. “To be entirely honest with you, it kind of feels like the Silver Star Society’s been lacking direction for a while. If you manage to convince our boss that the Primordial Church’s a threat then we can finally have some sense of purpose again. Can’t exactly play the role of hero if there are no villains to fight, after all.”

Enid paused her ascent of the stairs for a moment, gripping Valen’s arm for support while she straightened her tired back. “What have you lot been doing all this time then?”

“Mostly playing the stock market,” Johan admitted. “That and sitting around drinking expensive booze. It’s kind of devolved into an extra pompous gentlemen’s club.”

“Greaaat.” Louise groaned after taking the final step of the staircase, annoyance and tiredness mixing in her voice. “Our lives are in the hands of stock-brokers.”

“We’re not that bad,” Johan insisted. “Although, there are still a few members you should steer clear of-”

“JOHAN!” 

An angry male voice echoed towards them from a nearby hallway.

“Shit,” Johan muttered under his breath.

The four of them turned to the direction of the voice to find a high elf walking towards them, his expensive alligator skin shoes clicking dully against the carpeted floor with every angry step.

A green double-breasted suit outlined his muscular frame, and his fluffy golden hair must’ve added at least a couple of centimetres to his already tall height. His tanned complexion was sprinkled with dark freckles over the nose and cheeks of his androgynous face. The elven man came to a stomping stop in front of Johan, his bright green eyes boring into him.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked, both fists clenched on either side of him.

“We’re heading to Sir Colton’s office,” said Johan in a calm voice. “I’ll explain everything to him when I get there. He’ll surely pass it on to you later.”

“Like hell you will!” shouted the high elf. “I heard you might be bringing us a new recruit but nobody said anything about letting him bring his playthings with him.”

“What was that?” Louise asked with barely contained rage that made the white fur on her arms and legs bristle.

Judging by the elven man’s reaction to seeing his friends and how every portrait they’d seen in the halls so far were all of blokes, Valen assumed that the organisation was supposed to be male-exclusive. They must’ve also been either surprisingly open minded or supremely bad at vetting their members since Johan had definitely been a girl up until his late teens.

The high elf looked down at Louise, sneering at her upon noticing the sleeveless yellow hoodie and short jeans that covered her short body.

“Gods, the way this one’s dress.” He turned his attention back to Johan. “Do you take these hallowed halls for a streetwalker’s haunt?”

“The fuck did you say?!” Louise tried lunging at the high elf only to be pulled back by Johan gripping the bottom of her hoodie.

“Calm down Lou!” he shouted. “It’s not worth it!”

Valen felt Enid’s slender hand release its grip from his arm. He glanced at her and saw that two of her knuckles were already extended, ready to have mystical lightning channelled through them. No magical static to charge up a spell yet though. If this high elf was magic sensitive too then he’d also be able to detect the spell in motion and take it as a threat, or rather an excuse to escalate the situation.

Valen cleared his throat.

“I’m the one who insisted on bringing these women here, sir,” he said in the most respectful voice he could muster for someone who clearly had none himself. “If you have any grievances to air about my friends’ presence, please direct them at me.”

The high elf met eyes with Valen for the first time.

Calm red eyes the colour of fresh blood met with furious green ones the colour of spring.

“Friends, you say?” he asked, sounding unconvinced. “These women are your ‘friends’?”

“Yes, they are my friends, believe it or not.” Valen knew that the best course of action would be to remain polite and roll with the punches, but after the streetwalker comment he couldn’t help but add in just a little extra snark in there too. “And if you had some friends of your own then perhaps you’d be better at recognising them as such, sir.”

Johan covered his mouth with both hands in surprise, Louise let out a soft snicker, and a smile twitched at the corner of Enid’s lips.

Even the high elf seemed to find some humour in it, letting out a loud scoff as he nodded in mock agreement. 

“Really?” said the high elf.

“Really,” Valen repeated. “The situation’s rather complicated, so at the moment it may be for the best if-”

A chill at the back of Valen’s skull warned him of upcoming danger. Having learnt to trust it after his fight with Cyril, Valen heeded its warning and noticed the high elf’s fist flying at him just in time to bob his head away. The straight jab brushed past the side of his head.

Valen maintained eye contact with the high elf and was rewarded by a look of genuine surprise in his eyes. He was about to ask him if he was quite done with his little tantrum when the prickle of magical static made them both shudder.

They turned their attention to Enid, the source of the magical static.

The high elf lunged towards her with surprising speed, intent on neutralising the threat before it could manifest, but was stopped by Valen putting himself between them.

“That’s enough!” Valen shoved the high elf back with a single rigid hand pushed hard against his solar plexus. “This doesn’t need to go any further.”

“I’ll decide that!” the high elf made an abrupt charge towards Valen.

Valen raised his arms in preparation for another punch but was caught off guard when the man tackled him instead. His mistake.

Traditional hand to hand arnis focused mainly on striking, but the one who taught it to him made it a point to also include useful moves from other disciplines in their lessons. Moves like submission holds that should allow him to finish the fight with minimal damage to either side.

Confident in his groundwork, Valen allowed the high elf to throw him onto the ground with the intention of putting him in either an armbar or a chokehold.

By the time he remembered that there was a giant staircase behind him, it was already too late.

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