“Go where?” Niv says, plopping onto the ground and staring at the wizard with an upside-down gaze. “There’s nothing here.
“That’s what Tik Tik want people think.” The wizard says. As she speaks, she picks up a stick from the ground, tracing a circle along the space. “Get equipment on, and we soon travel.
Niv scrambles to his feet, gathers up the bandolier and bag, and glances hither and thither for a place to dress in private.
Eshere motions to the wagon, a soft smile on her face.
Niv scrambles into the wagon, tumbling into the covered thing and crashing into various crates and supplies.
Outside, Tik Tik crosses a necessary notation in her ritual circle and peeks up towards the transport. “Better not break things, okie?”
“Are you sure this is supposed to fit me?” Niv asks. “It seems really small.”
“It fit you. No worry. Magic outfit, so don’t lose it.” She nods, admiring her handwriting.
When he shuffles out of the wagon, Niv stands, rubbing his arm and looking down. The leather armor covers tightly over his body, showing off the shape of his legs and the definition of his chest. A breeze over him makes him shiver as the wind kisses his uncovered tummy. The only source of warmth in the skimpy affair was a scarf that muffles around his muzzle, keeping his ashamed pout away from the wizard kobold’s eyes.
“Ah, just in time!” chirps Tik Tik. “Step up Niv and let’s go.”
Tik Tik claps her hands together, and the runes inlaid upon the ground glow a bright white. The color is so intense that Niv must cover his eyes. Even so, he’s stunned by the pull of magical energy, finding himself spiraling through the vastness of eternity for both a lifetime and a split second, tumbling and falling, but to where and for what reason, he has little to no understanding.
When the flashing and the falling finally ends, his legs wobble, and he falls to his knees, panting and clutching at the ground.
Tik Tik stands before him, her arms crossed over her chest and her cloak billowing in the intense wind.
The roguish kobold peeks his head up, finally blinking the disorientation out of his mind. When he looks, he sees that all around him is the starlight sky, the moon hanging high overhead. He narrows his gaze in the brightness and stumbles to his feet. “Where are we?”
“Right where Tik Tik’s calculations think we should be. Ancient ruin, and look!” she says, pointing a clawed finger forward. There, past a stone walkway dropping down to the clouds below, sits a shrine surrounded by pink energy and housing in the middle of the orb.
“Wait… are we in the sky? And is that a magical barrier around the thing!”
“Yep, and no worry. That not hurt you. It just protect orb from wind and stuff. She swirls her hand in the air, producing an almost identical orb from the ether. “Take this and swap it out using thiefy skill. Sound good?”
Niv grabs the big thing in two hands, tilting his head back and forth. “And this is it, huh? That’s the job? I thought it’d be more involved.”
“It easy!” Tik Tik chirps. “Big pay and fun celebration at Tik Tik’s tower if Niv wants. Tik Tik do whatever Niv want with Niv, sound fun?”
Niv gulps, his legs trembling. He takes a few steps forward, glancing at the vastness beneath him. On one side, the clouds part, and underneath, he can see the reflected countryside beneath. He stands there, transfixed by the brilliance of the scene below.
“Don’t stop!” Tik Tik shouts.
Niv hops to attention and proceeds forward, though as his foot is about to touch down on one of the bridge’s stones, he hesitates and hops over that spot. Once on the other side, he calls back. “There’s a mechanism here, and it probably triggers a trap!”
“Good find!” shouts Tik Tik. “Tik Tik glad hired you. Now swap!”
Niv steels himself and proceeds forward, hopping, skipping, and running over the platform until he finally reaches the other side. His whole body glows with the radiance of the field around the artifact, his arms trembling as he steps forward, raising his hands and ready to swap the thing out.
From out of the clouds, a loud screech fills the air as a shadow zips up past the kobolds. Tik Tik swears under her breath and readies her magic while Niv pulls his fake orb up against his chest, his eyes wide.
A hulking beast, humanoid in shape but with the fur of a great cat and the head of a mighty bird of prey, lands on the platform in front of the artifact. The big and burly bird stares at Niv with a predator’s gaze, shrieking with the animal fury of a mighty hunter.
Sitting upon the shoulder of the gryphon is a slender woman, her strawberry blond hair done up in thick and billowing braids. She dresses in a latticework of armor that hides none of her privacy, showing off her flat body. She holds a staff crackling with magical energy and a smile of smug superiority.
“What do we have here?” asks the mysterious mage, her pointed ears twitching as she brushes her fingers over her glossy lips. “A couple little lizards playing pretend adventurers?”
Tik Tik growls, her hands crackling with energy. “You are Tesarasa?”
The woman chuckles. “I see my reputation precedes me. That’s good. Of course, I know who you are, Tik Tik. Is this one of your little fuckbuddies? How pathetic.”
She waves her wand, and in front of Niv emerges a pink slime, forming into the shape of a giant hand.
The kobold leaps back, clutching the orb tight across his chest, but the slim slurps over him, engulfing the kobold and suctioning the false artifact right out of his gasp. It spits him out, sending him rolling back onto the bridge.
Coughing, Niv scrambles to his feet, his hair slick and over his head, dripping with goo.
“What an interesting little trinket,” Tesarasa says, holding her hand out.
The slime slurps toward her, depositing the orb right into her palm.
“I can certainly use this to grab the true orb. I must admit, if you know you should swap it, you’ve done your homework. Impressive, but ultimately futile.”
Tik Tik smirks, snapping her fingers.
The orb flashes momentarily, then explodes in a brilliant mass of smoke right in Tesarasa’s face!