Stepping out of the shadow of an ancient tree a dozen kilometers away from the humble cottage, still with a devilish grin on his face, Sunny watched Gilderien's reaction with amusement. He had left Creepy there in the shadow of the old man's door, in order to monitor him and make sure he wasn't preparing a war party to hunt him down in his sleep.
He definitely hadn't done it just to see the look on his face.
Laughing softly to himself, he approached the Marvelous Mimic.
Only, it wasn't the Marvelous Mimic he was used to.
The petite Cafe and Memory Boutique he had known and loved for the past several years had disappeared, replaced with a large pavilion of white, interconnected tents that glowed softly with a dozen lights from within. It was set in a small glade of the forest, pinned to the ground with too many stakes for him to bother counting.
Sunny pushed away the flap of the entrance with a sigh, squinting slightly to adjust to the sudden brightness inside, having been used to the dim atmosphere of Gilderien's home.
He missed the comfy exterior of his cafe already.
Gloomy looked up at him in annoyance from where he sat in one of the booths close to the door, skimming a copy of the Exploration Report of the Tomb of Ariel, by Nobody, with a bored expression.
"Why didn't you just Shadow Step inside?"
Sunny sniffed.
"I wanted to lament the sorry appearance of my once-beautiful store. I miss the window view of the Ivory Tower already! The trees here are too big, and there are so many it seems like they'll never end. I hate forests…"
Gloomy rolled his eyes and returned to skimming the pages of the exploration report.
"It's only temporary, you idiot. We can change it back soon enough."
Sunny took in the interior of what was outwardly a small pavilion. Not much had really changed, which was a relief. After all, one of the abilities of the Marvelous Mimic was to be able to manipulate the space inside of it, so it could be much bigger or smaller than it was supposed to.
Earlier on, after Gilderien had agreed to let Sunny join him for a drink, Gloomy had secretly slunk into the trees in his shadow form, on the hunt for an ideal space to temporarily settle.
After encountering the glade, he had summoned and commanded the Marvelous Mimic to change appearances, since while conflict was most likely inevitable no matter what if a patrol ran into them, there was a slim chance they might be wary of a potential group of soldiers dwelling in what looked like a small war camp.
The main differences now were the lack of windows, which had simply become flat walls, and the ceiling. Even though space could be manipulated all he wanted inside of the Mimic, the ceiling still appeared… funky. It dipped upwards and moved down irregularly in accordance to what was outwardly the peaks of the tents.
Sunny's Ascended Devil apparently wasn't very sure how such a thing was supposed to look, so it had simply been covered in the smooth wood finish of the original ceiling.
Other than that, though, he couldn't really be too disappointed. At least it was familiar. He moved over to sit across the booth from Gloomy and ignored the pointed look his duplicate gave him.
"What do you think of the old man?"
Gloomy, who was clearly not going to get any more reading done, closed his book with a snap and pushed it to the corner of the table.
He looked up at Sunny with a hint of exasperation and a little pity in his eyes.
"Probably the same thing you do, pal."
"Humor me."
It was Gloomy's turn to sigh, but he answered nonetheless.
"Powerful. Damn powerful. He must have been using a combination of Memories and his Aspect on us, too, though for what I can't fathom. He was exhausted at the end… Maybe they didn't work on us because our mental and soul resistances are too high? But that wouldn't make sense, either, since it's obvious his raw power is far greater than our own. At least, right now it is."
Sunny nodded, resting his head against the back of the booth and looking at the ceiling, contemplative.
"He also seemed to know that we weren't lying. That wasn't him blindly believing us. Do you think he had someone on the outside helping him, or is it part of his own Aspect?"
Gloomy shrugged, interlocking his fingers on the table and twiddling his thumbs, staring at them absently.
"Don't know. How can we tell? Leaving Creepy behind was probably the smartest call we could make, and he hasn't made any suspicious moves. He's just kneeling on the floor of his porch, meditating…"
Sunny picked up where he left off, a hint of coldness in his voice.
"...But what if he's just good at acting. Like Cassie, right? He could even have multiple incarnations, like us. Might even know we left Creepy there, to spy on him."
Gloomy sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table as he massaged his temples, closing his eyes.
"We better hope not, though we should expect the worst eventuality. At least he doesn't seem particularly malicious. He's really taking care of this entire forest single handedly. I suppose that's gotta count for something."
Sunny nodded.
"We'll find out more tomorrow. After all, he said it was our turn to ask the questions."
Without another word, Gloomy dissolved into his shadow form and reattached himself to Sunny's feet under the table.
Sunny extricated himself from the booth and used Shadow Step to teleport to the second floor of the Marvelous Mimic, right next to his bed. His room had been untouched.
Yawning, he dismissed the Onyx Mantle and freed his hair, which tumbled down his shoulders in an avalanche of silky, raven-black threads, pulling back and laying down under the sheets after summoning a few familiar shadows to serve as a set of silky-black pajamas.
They were part of the rare few that had been brought to this new world with him, stuck inside of the Marvelous Mimic, and were more comfortable and natural to wear than any fabric could ever feel on his porcelain skin.
After awakening the next morning and doing a quick series of stretches that were more reflexive than truly rejuvenating and checking with Creepy to make sure that the old geezer was awake, he used Shadow Step to appear directly in front of the door of his cottage, rapping on it lightly with his knuckles. His hair was once more tied high up on the back of his head, and he wore a small smile on his face.
From Creepy's perspective, Gilderien looked at the door, slightly surprised, and walked over to open it on silent hinges, meeting the face of a beautiful man with white, smooth skin that looked like it had been chiseled and then sanded down from the purest of marble. His eyes looked like onyx orbs, and the morning sun that peeked through the trees splayed soft, yellow-orange light across his face.
Sunny was currently utilizing the shadows for his garments, today, and they mimicked Gilderien's own livery disturbingly well, only completely black, since they were made of shadows.
The old man looked slightly shocked for a moment. Then, seemingly regaining control of himself, he smiled and bowed slightly.
"Good morning, Master Sunless."
Sunny nodded and bowed politely.
"Good morning to you as well, Gilderien. And please, call me Sunny, if only when it's the two of us. It's a little awkward to not both be on a first-name basis, especially since you're my elder."
Gilderien's smile grew a bit, and his eyes crinkled even more.
"Of course."
He stepped away from the door and gestured inside, and Sunny stepped in without hesitation. It looked much like it had before, except it was now bathed in light from the open sliding door that led to the porch, which sat on top of the pond. The fish inside were swimming relaxedly, and the water lilies that dotted its surface were shimmering with radiant drops of dew that shone with the light of the new morning. It looked like it had rained recently, though Sunny certainly hadn't remembered that happening the night before.
"How did you sleep, Sunny? I trust you were comfortable?"
Suny turned and looked at him with a smile.
"Quite. I'm lucky enough to have access to a bed I'm very familiar with, so I'd suspect I could sleep through a storm on it."
Gilderien chuckled, and began preparing tea for the morning, moving to grab the teapot where it had been returned to its little alcove on the wall.
"I am glad for you! A good bed can be everything, at times… Ah, I miss my old, favored bed. Such a travesty."
Sunny settled in the familiar Shadow Chair that sat next to the small table, which he had neglected dismissing the night before, and looked at him with interest.
"What happened to it?"
Gilderien sighed, and with melancholy in his voice, replied,
"It turned to dust long ago… It was so comfortable, too."
Sunny felt a pang of sympathy for the old man.
'That is certainly unfortunate. Thankfully, I'm not old enough to have experienced it yet myself. Maybe I should turn my own bed into a Memory, so it stays pristine forever…'
Creepy, unnoticed by Gilderien, reattached himself to Sunny, who wrapped him around his body, doubling his effective power. Gilderien briefly glanced at Sunny with a sudden frown on his face, but quickly returned to his attempts at starting a fire. Sunny internalized his reaction silently.
'Definitely seems to have some ability that can sense my power… And I was consciously suppressing it then, too. I wonder what it is.'
As the flame took and grew into moderately large fire, Gilderien whipped a small, familiar box out of thin air and turned to Sunny with hesitation.
"Could we use the water from your spring, Sunny? I admit I am very interested in knowing whether or not I imagined its rejuvenating effects last night. They seem too good to be true."
Sunny looked taken aback for a moment, then he grinned and summoned the Endless Spring.
Gilderien watched the white sparks swirling around his hand with interest, but refrained from asking how it was Sunny summoned the porcelain bottle with blue and white designs. After Sunny tossed him the Endless Spring and Gilderien had filled the pot with the necessary herbs and leaves, suspending it above the flame without any visible assistance he returned to the table and sat down again. Sunny dismissed the memory after it had been handed back to him.
Gilderien smiled his familiar smile and looked at Sunny. His hands were resting one atop another on the table, and his countenance was calm and peaceful, content.
"Well then, I do believe it is your turn to interrogate, Sunny. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability, but please understand there are some that I am… bound to not do so."
Sunny's face hardened, expression serious. An unnoticeable, dark glint in his eyes flared to life as he heard Gilderien speak of being 'bound.'
"...Of course."
Then, he leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, mimicking the pose Gilderien had made the night before as his onyx eyes bore into the old man. He suddenly seemed much colder than the cheerful youth he had been talking to just a few minutes earlier.
"Where am I, exactly?"
Gilderien did not show shock, surprise, contempt, annoyance, or any other emotion besides content complacency as he answered Sunny's questions.
"You are in what is known as Du Weldenvarden, the forest that guards the elven kingdom and its vassals that dwell in the dusky pines."
Sunny's expression didn't change, but on the inside, he was surprised.
'So there are elves in this world, huh?'
"What do you call this country? Who are your kinsmen, if not elves, and why have you of all people been tasked with guarding the natural barrier that separates this forest from the rest? Do the elves truly not have a spellcaster more powerful than that of a human, or do they not believe the task is important enough?"
Gilderien's expression did not change, but his eyes grew interested.
"Well, this country is simply known as the domain of the elves, to answer your first question. It does not have a formal name, besides the cities that dwell inside of it. Also, no, they do not have a spellcaster of greater strength than I. It is no exaggeration to say that I am the most powerful being that dwells in this forest, Sunny. That is why I have been charged with its protection."
Sunny had suspected as much, but thought it best to ask anyway. Now that he knew there wasn't anyone more powerful that dwelt in this forest, he could ease up slightly.
"Who is Galbatorix, and why do you hate him so much? Is he the ruler of this continent?"
Gilderien shifted in his seat, glancing outwards to the door of his porch and the pond below it, now bathed in warm sunlight.
"...You truly do not know of him, then."
He looked back to Sunny, and any levity in his face disappeared.
"Galbatorix is indeed the accursed ruler of this continent. He wishes to claim us and our forest under his control, as well, but for now, the power we have here amongst ourselves is enough to give him pause. For now. His power grows more dire with each passing year, in tandem with the overall strength of his marshall armies. His seat of power dwells in what the elves once claimed as their capital city, Illirea. Though I hear now that it is called a different name under his rule… Urû'baen."
He spoke with barely hidden malice and bitterness as he mentioned the city the king lived in.
"How long has he ruled, and is there a reason why no one has tried to stop him?"
Gilderien looked up sharply. He had been staring with focused anger at the table when mentioning the city.
"...People have tried. We, have tried. The dwarves have tried, the humans have tried… His power is simply too great. In another twenty years, he will have conquered all of the races he hadn't been able to in times past, due to factors like distance or overall combat power. Many believe that is not the case, but those that are wisest among us do. He will not just overpower us, either. No, he could have done that decades ago."
His voice grew cold and shook with unconcealed rage.
"He wants to rule us. Enslave us. Force us to acknowledge that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he is greater than us. He wishes to watch us kneel, and for our Queen to kiss his feet as he stares down with impunity. He wants to humiliate our proud race."
Sunny watched Gilderien carefully. If he wanted to strike while the iron was hot, now was his chance. His plan was coming together, slowly but surely.
"What would it take to stop him?"
Gilderien unclenched his closed fists and let out the pent-up frustration with a sigh, leaning back in his chair.
"A miracle. Two, maybe three of them. Perhaps a thousand… One of us seems to believe that there is a miracle that has already been born, but he refuses to share more with the rest of us. I wish to believe him dearly, but he has never been truly stable since his injuries... I fear it is wishful thinking."
Sunny looked at him calmly, crossing his arms
"Well, you already have at least one of those right in front of you. All you need to do is reach out and grab hold of it."
Gilderien looked confused for a moment, but then his eyes burned with fiery intensity.
"You don't mean…"
Sunny cut him off.
"...that you are in the presence of the most powerful mercenary in the world, two even? Perhaps even three? Yes, I do."
The shadows of the cabin exploded into movement, and a woman wearing armor seemingly made of stone stepped calmly into the cabin from a shadow on the wall, surveying the small space with disinterest with ruby-red eyes that hid in the slit of her plumed helmet, and on the wall opposite a dark destrier pranced in from the shadows as well, exuding a terrifying presence and huffing steam from its nostrils. Its eyes were red and mad, but full of calculating fury, and the twisting horns on its head were almost as fearsome as the beast's teeth, sharp and terrifying as he neighed.
By the time Gilderien, slack jawed, had turned back to stare at Sunny, he was gone. Replacing the cheerful young man and his dark livery sat a figure in onyx armor, the power he exuded perhaps the most dire Gilderien had ever experienced personally. Outside the cabin, a massive, hulking, four armed creature that seemed to be made of dozens of black swords, with a maw that looked like the opening to a volcano that spilled bright orange light from between its impossibly sharp teeth, let out a bellowing roar, shaking the trees and sending thousands of birds cawing in alarm for a couple dozen kilometers around.
Sunny grinned darkly inside the helmet of the Mantle of the Underworld.
"So. Let's talk payment."
* * *