Tense.

  It was ay room, a felt tense.

  Then again, any room with him sitting in it was tense.

  In the dim lighting of dles illumihe dark room. Light glinting off the polished marble floor and illuminating the dark wood that made the circur table in the ter with eight seats. The room was that of secrecy, only one door, with no possible way of any other entry.

  A single man sat at the table, an rim man, who dressed in long, flowing robes that was clearly so fine as to be fitting for a noble. A long white beard went down his chest, ly maintained and bed.

  His rge, calloused hands were folded oable as he sat on the end of it. You could tell by looking at them that he was far strohan most old men were.

  His eyes were dark and lifeless, like many men who had seen the horrors of war, or worse, sce. Looking at him once was enough to know he'd not even notice you if he was stepping over your dying corpse.

  Untangling his fingers, he raised a hand in the air. A Servus, a pure white wooden puppet with the size and face of a young woman nodded, and with a pulling of a lever, a crystal desded via a mae the ceiling.

  The light blue crystal was raw and uncut, merely attached to a metal fixture to hold it like some makeshift delier.

  With another pull of a letter, a single beam of light appeared from some unseen meism and stuck the crystal. A light blue glow filled the room. The crystal balls oable in front of the empty seats begun to shine, in moments, shapes began to ma in the seats of the chairs, slowly gaining more crity as the seds passed.

  By the end, four seats were filled with the ghostly figures, who were no doubt far away in other facilities. Two of them were older folk, the other two of them were younger.

  With a final wave, the Servus woman stepped outside the room, being repced by a young human man a sed ter, holding a colle of papers.

  The man stood o the head seat and lifted the papers up to his face, "Early this m, we recieved word of a infiltration into a manufactory after the shift for it stumbled into alchemical bomb traps left behind."

  "Based on our initial iigation, we found the corpses of the previous shift had been taken by surprise and killed, all of their throats slit. The perpetrator involved isn't known to us yet, though we know they spent the first part of their time here making a Servus in a mase model."

  A younger member of the cil spoke up, he was adorned with white and gold that went well with his golden blonde hair, the symbol of the Guild on his chest, "They did all of this for a free Servus? Breaking into a manufactory is no small feat, stealing one already bought would have been infinitely easier."

  The speaker nodded and tinued, "The infiltrator made a highly modified Servus. Whoever they were failed to wipe the automatic records of the modifications, as such we know this Servus has the following: Fire Retardance, water proofing, wood reinfort, additional flexibility, improved strength, ented eyes, and the sleep fun as well as some kind of paint added, though we ot determine which as all of the paints were dumped by the user afterward."

  "Furthermore, we also have evideo believe they used the Archive to give the Servus two imprints, one light and one medium, though we do not know which minds were chosen."

  Taking a page and putting it behind the rest, he cleared his throat as quietly as possible before attempting to tinue.

  Just before he started, another voiterrupted him, "While the infiltration of a manufactory is certainly... important," It was the younger member speaking up again, "Why is this being brought up to us? Surely our hunters have this cover-"

  "Be silent a him finish rep." The leader said, his eyes shut in frustration.

  The younger member, immediately yielded and motioned for the servant to tinue speaking, he knew better than to push his lubsp;

  "After this, apparently, the infiltrator and their creation broke into that facilities Vault."

  Immediately a few of the faces in the room grew dark, many dangerous and highly valuable artifacts were always stored away by the Guild for future study, a horde of magical items and valuables split among the many facilities of the Guild. Even in a single facilities Vault there could be incredibly old and dangerous ons.

  "How did they access any of the items without the codes?" An older woman asked. She was strangely dressed, with many bits and baubles hanging on her person. A keen eye and intelligent mind could tell they were all magical items.

  "We believe they used some of the Servus' soul energy to alter the energy fields before they physically picked the locks."

  "What did they take?" The older woman asked in a low voice, her eyes betraying her underlying anger and anxiousness.

  With a sharp breath, the speaker stated, "We do not know."

  "Records of every item in our iory is anized meticulously and you do not know?"

  "The records are gone, along with the Vault. The thieves used alchemical bombs to destroy them and their tents."

  Rage was not beyohough she kept it on a tight leash. Her hands were balled up as they rested on whatever table she had back at her physical location. Being informed she lost possibly priceless items was easily the worst part of her day today.

  "There is an... Exception. We do know ohing that they took with certainty."

  The older woman gave him a look that simply read as oo tinue.

  "The Ritual Chamber was broken into. The intruder took all of the crystals."

  Their faces paled as they realized what he meant. Through painstakingly long rituals Artificers could deheir magito crystals of pure magical energy, ohat could unleash masterful feats of magic for a moment. Even in the hands of even the most inexperienages could such crystals cause such grand effects.

  "H-How many did they take, and what grade?"

  Panig quietly, the speaker looked through the notes for a moment before answering, "They took about seven master level crystals. The rest were lrade ohat were destroyed in a trap set by the intruders that triggered when the shift got there."

  Silence. Seven damn crystals capable of possibly wiping out aire army with the spell they could prahey were all one use only, but still, ons of mass destru getting into a dangerues hand wasn't good.

  tinuie the awkward silence, "In addition, we believe... That the one who broke into the manufactory attuhe Servus with a familiar."

  Eyes widened across the table, with the one exception being the man in the head chair. The implication was immediately known. Servus weren't alive, ae their body being more than merely capable of dug magic, without life, they simply couldn't do it.

  Of course, if the guild could have produced a potential army of mindless archmages, they would have. But the trol bands straheir wills, and thus their potential.

  With a living creature, magic was now possible for it.

  And it now had master level magic crystals.

  "The familiar specifically was one of our experimental slugs. Their body was modified to tain the slug inside of it, to use as its magical battery."

  Unfortably sitting in silence for a moment, the speaker eventually started again, "...To finish, we came to a realization after some initial testing and research. We barely firmed it the hour before this cil was called for, but the Archive... Is gone."

  A middle aged man leaned forward, he was a bald man dressed in dark robes, with strange scars being the only things on his head, his face however, was twisted in anger, "Gone?"

  Shaking slightly, the speaker took a steadying breath and spoke, "Yes. The infiltrator accessed the Archive's knowledge from the Imprint Room in the manufactory a a... signal, back after hours of work. The signal wiped the existance of all of the minds within the Archive. There is... Nothi."

  The man immediately begahing hard from his nose, uandably, it's not everyday your resear the minds of incredible people gets wiped out in its ey.

  "...Where was this manufactory located? My men will set. Out. IMMEDIATELY!"

  With a scoff, another voice spoke, "Cease with the yelling. Any rge force will be noticeable, and any criminal or opportunist who hears of a raid on one of our manufactories may think there is something ripe for the taking from the perpetrator, which there is. Not to mention the public." The young man said, his faow looking incredibly focused.

  "Every mind in the Archive is gone. Great men and women, whose knowledge was ours. Our very founder was within it, his great mind gone forever!"

  A raised hand from the leader silenced him immediately, f his rage under trol.

  "Master of the Hunt," the leader spoke now, turning his head to the fourth figure who hadn't spoke, "You will destroy the rogue Servus and it's owner. Begin your preperations immediately."

  A rger woman with dark clothing, obviously muscur and armored with leather armor, smirked, albiet not that vingly, "Where was this manufactory located?"

  The speaker took out another paper, "This one is he city of Brimweald, just a ways out actually."

  The woman chuckled awkwardly, "Might have some trouble hunting a magic capable Servus with access to master grade spells, seven of them, no less."

  "Well then, Master of the Hunt," the young man spoke once more, "I should hope you do it, quietly."

  With a scowl in his dire, the woman moved something in physical spa her end, and the glowing image of her in the room ended immediately.

  "While the Master of Hunt is to be exempt from the meeting, we shall have proper discussion of events with the outer cil in its ey. Ohey are provided the information they have failed to appear here for. Your appearances will be noted." The grim man made a wave and the speaker quickly moved to shut off the crystal.

  The others disappeared with a bow, leaving him and the speaker iy room.

  As the speaker got the door for him, they both looked out into the hallway to see the Servus patiently standing in the hallway, it's hands behind it's babsp;

  "You should have went back to stoke the firepce. It is a and I always eat my breakfast in my reading room." He stared at the thing.

  "...You did not order me too." The Servus looked down, it's carved, yet moving face showing slight traces of fear.

  "...Follow."

  The three of them walked down the hallway, eventually reag a a rge room filled with the tallest bookshelves most would have ever seen in their lives. he middle of the room, against a wall, was a beautiful carved chair with a cushion on its seat, with a rge firepce with dying embers and a small table that had a book lying on it.

  "Sit in the firepce."

  Immediately the Servus did so, though already it could be seen visibly shaking. It's woode began to smoke as it stood on the burning coals of the fire.

  The leader walked toward his chair and took a seat in it, grabbing his book he began to read it as he flicked his other wrist.

  The dying embers suddenly burst into an almost explosive force, a wave of heat rushing over him. The Servus began to scream, fire crawling up its body, as it reached a hand out of the firepce, he spoke again.

  "Stay. And be silent."

  The Servus obeyed, because it could do nothing else. Simply writhing inside of the space of the firepce, it's fa unspeakable pain as it screamed silent screams as the man warmed himself with her burning body.

  Looking back for a moment, the leader spoke to the human servant, "Bring me ohat is actually trained. But first, go see if my breakfast is ready."

  ***

  "Ugh... Isn't there an easier way for us to travel?"

  "Not unless you have a horse in your back pocket. And papers so we get by the first guard uild offical we see."

  Two Servus were walking though a dark forest, the light of the m sun shining in patches through the trees. Having stayed up all night, they ran through the pitch bck woods to make their escape from the pce of his creation.

  The female one had a long, golden hair on her head, and obviously affixed wig, but still, with the male Servus was wearing a wig with short, wavy bck hair. She wore dark colored clothes meant for travel with maximum flexibility, the male Servus wearing simir clothing. Both of them wore hoods that covered their heads for obvious reasons, they also carried packs ohe male having a proper pack that he wore on his back while the female had a satchel she had hung from a shoulder.

  The duo had the currently popur white coating of paint, many Servus' were being given. Though uhe male had tiny specks of other colors on his body, mostly on his hands and legs, dumping out the other paints proved to be messy. It was a tiny bit of revenge along with everything else, but even the most tiny of inveniences given to the Guild was still something cherished by Servus.

  "Well, what's the pn? Our first destination?" The newly made Servus wao at least know which goal they were aiming for. Like all Servus, they had detailed and fully articute faces, capable of fleshlike movement and expression.

  "We're heading towards Brimweald. From there, we'll y low a for a while before we should make our way to Morfrith." She rolled her eyes and wondered what she was thinking, imagining a newly made rogue Servus standing a ce out here alone, maybe it was for the best that he saved her.

  "ht, duh, Dakota." He remembered that she told him about her actually formidable Servus friend, one capable of fighting physically with strength, something not feasible for most Servus.

  "Yeah. Once we actually get into the ruins, we rest easy for a while with her proteg us. Plus, not even the guild will go into a monster ied forest nd for us."

  The male Servus nodded along, "And with that gun, I imagine most monsters won't be much of a problem for us when moving in and out."

  She sighed, "It's a shame it takes five days for a single round to reappear after using it, I'd be so much more . With it bei f game hunting, it should pretty easily tear through pte armor from a distance, provided it isn't heavily ented."

  He smirked, "Even if it 't, it'll knock them on their ass."

  She gave him a smirk back, "And the air out of their lungs. A .450 Nitro Express isly easy to shake off getting shot by."

  The both of them reveled for a small moment in the sheer amount of trouble their pursuers were going to have hunting them. While they should have knower than to be overfident, with everything they did so far, they couldn't quite help it.

  "So... Think it's about time you give me a name?"

  She stopped for a moment again, this time turning around pletely to look at him, "We would have to wait for that until I do the binding ritual, until I teically bee your master, for just a moment at least, the name won't stick, your mind will simply fet it until your 'ives you one a new ohat's what happens when you sacrifice your name."

  He rubbed the back of his neck, "It was to save you though, I couldn't just let you die there."

  "My life was not worth magcially fetting your name and face." She stated matter-of-factly, she knew she couldn't have given those away for a stranger. She regretted ever giving him the option to do so.

  "Ign the self-depreg going on here, saving you, while was the right thing to do, was also the smart thing to do."

  She scoffed, "How? You could have easily used said energy to get more of the goodies in the vault. Especially if you burned me like I asked. "

  He smiled and caught up with her to walk side by side, "But then I wouldn't have a well experienced, knowledgeable, and formidable guide... Remember when you said I would find it rather hard to break into another manufactory."

  She raised an eyebrow, "What does that have to do with-"

  "You did it. While you were dying too. And instead to save yourself, you helped me. It would have been real shitty of me to not try and save you iurn."

  "You didn't owe me that. All I did was make a bomb, and any of our kind would have helped you in my position."

  He gave a small, incredulous ugh, "Ok, we both know that st ones not true. Anyone could have dohe opposite and bur would have given you more than enough of the amount of soul energy you o fix yourself, a you get some of the items in the Vault."

  He put a hand on her shoulder, "It was worth it. Besides, it was hardly the worst things I could have sacrificed."

  "Just because they were the least bad things to lose doesn't make them insignifit."

  "Maybe. Still worth it."

  With a huff, she started walking faster, her hands fumbling around in her satchel for a moment, before pulling out a map, mostly as a excuse to stop talking. Silence hung in the air betweewo, letting the ambient sounds of the forest surround them for a momeually she rolled up the map and tucked it away while still walking.

  "...So, where did you learn so much about guns from?"

  She audibly groaned as she stepped over a rge root in the ground, "Do you io talk the whole way there?"

  He chuckled once more, albiet this time rather grimly, "sidering I died after being hit by a car, was reborn into this thing with my soul in tatters, am currently being hunted down by some medieval magical corporation who's selling us as sves to make a profit, and I learned all of this as of yesterday. Maybe I just feel ined to want to think about literally anything else."

  "...Fair enough." Any Servus could sympathize with that se, especially one freshly made.

  She weaved around rge bushes before she spoke, trying to not tear her new clothes against their branches. "My grandpa was a gun nut himself when he was alive, as well as something of a history buff. Whenever my parents and me went and visited him in his home he try, I'd always go into his colle room and ask about his guns. Sometimes he'd tell me about how they were ied or how they worked, stuff like that. I took a deeper i when I was older."

  "Back then though, he eve me fire a few of the older, weird ones," she smiled sadly, "Usually to my mothers detriment, she didn't care for them much, got her all anxious."

  Letting silence fall betweewo for a moment, he thought about a question f in his mind, "Why didn't you ever make a gun here? You said you were a gun nerd, and you've been free for a while now."

  "No, I said I was kinda a gun nerd. Besides, I don't have the materials necessary. I'd either o carry siderable amounts of gunpowder on my person stantly, which with how much I travel, could end very badly, or, somehow stantly get refills when I start running low ao make more bullets. Not to mention the specific metals I'd he tools I would have to have to actually take those raw materials and make them into the parts of the gun, and even if I had all of that, the actual skills necessary to do those things, which I simply do not have. And I'd have to have all of that despite being a Sevus and a majority of people in this fug hellscape world not thinking I'm even a person. Trust me, it's impossible."

  "What about more simple guns? Like flintlocks?"

  "Just because they are more simple doesn't make them that much easier to make. Not to mention they are simple enough that they very well might be able to reverse ehem and produce them en mass in the guild should they eveheir hands on one of them. I'd prefer not to give them a headstart."

  He nodded slightly. The Artificers Guild already had enough dangerous magical ons and gear without throwing guns into their arsenal.

  As they walked through the vegetation, more and more sunlight began to peek through the trees. The both of them could tell they were reag the edge of the forest.

  Stepping out of the shade of the trees, they beheld a long stretch of pins with a simple, well traveled dirt road in front of them, with another small forest a ways ahead, going along the road like the the ohey were in a moment before.

  ". Let's not stay on the road for as long as we have too, once we reach the stretch of forest we'll head into it. The more cover the better, st thing we need is some human caravan ing though trying to boss us around."

  She broke into a light jog, and with a eye roll, he followed right behind her.