"Well, that was a spectacular failure." Kalim commented with a chuckle. "I told you from the beginning it won’t work."
Thratvar bent over the seven unconscious bodies lying on the floor of their base.
"It did not fail." He stated. "It merely yielded unexpected results."
"Uh-huh – we lost the prototype and have to deal with a gaggle of knights, I really can’t see this as anything else than a failure."
"Those men are masters of combat amongst your kind, are they not? We can very much use them for our purposes."
"Yeah but they’re also centuries old, we won’t be able to trick them in the same time way as the kid with an inflated ego."
"Then we won’t trick them." Thratvar half-shrugged. "We’ll offer an equal partnership, power in exchange for their assistance."
"What makes you think they would align themselves with us out of their own free will? They were leading an organisation actively fighting against your mind not so long ago, I don’t think they’ll so readily betray humanity."
"They betrayed their former leader without a second thought for just a possibility of an opportunity to seize power. Lust for power is one of the very few things our people share."
"I suppose I can’t argue with that." Kalim laughed. "What power are you going to offer them? Sealed Blight?"
"No, at least not from the start. I want to create alternate versions of the prototype, having seven wielders will significantly speed up the testing process."
"Using different weapons created with your kind’s sorcery of course – the blood spells were intriguing but ultimately very restrictive and only partially compatible with Blight."
"Getting enchanted weapons will be much more difficult now that we can’t access Mountainfall, but even assuming I manage to procure them for you, do you have an Overseer willing to process seven weapons in secret?"
"Narthav owes me a significant debt, he’ll do whatever I ask of him as long as I promise to void it."
"He’s also a coward, are you sure he won’t report you to the command instead? It would be much easier for him than illegal work for the rebels."
"He might be a coward but he’s not a fool – he knows that the command won’t find us, while refusal to comply with my orders will result is his death."
Suddenly, one of the unconscious men on the floor groaned and stirred.
"They’re about to wake up, go grab Tharosk in case they try to do something stupid."
"Try to get our guests up to speed befor I come back, they don’t have weapons but I would rather avoid making a scene."
The Pathseeker left the room in a swift stride, moving towards the eastern wing of the building where their resident Ravager resided most of the time.
Kalim grabbed one of the chairs made of a strange dark material and dragged it across the floor opting to sit in a reverse position.
"What is happening? Where are we?" One of the knights moaned as he sat up and looked around.
Subsequently, all of the other men woke up, each with a different question and degree of confusion.
"Gentlemen!" Kalim clapped his hands to get their attention. "Allow me to explain the predicament that you’re in-"
"Who are you?!" One of the knights demanded.
"I’d tell you if you didn’t interrupt me. For now please listen to what I have to say and wait with your questions until I’m done explaining, Understood?"
The knights looked rather insulted by his tone, but they didn’t object.
"Your dear leader who put you under the influence of mind control is dead, and you’d be as well if me and my associates didn’t get you out of there. To be crystal clear, my partners are a part of a Blightborn rebellion so don’t freak out once they get here-"
Two of the knights opened their mouths to protest but a pointed glare from Kalim shut them up.
"Currently your choices as follows – you can go on your own, knowing that no large settlement will let you in, or join me and my associates for guaranteed safety. You can ask your questions now."
"We are proud knights of the Order, if you think that we would ever ally ourselves with filthy-"
"Please cut the bullshit." Kalim rolled his eyes.
"You’re here as a direct consequence of your actions – if you weren’t power hungry assholes you’d still be in the Fortress of Giants."
The oldest looking knight from the group stomped right up to him with a completely red face.
Unexpectedly, his outburst was cut short by one of his brethren putting a hand on his shoulder.
"He’s right Rudolph." A serious looking knight sighed. "There’s no use in trying to look noble anymore, we’re among the most wanted of the order now."
"You can’t be serious David, we have a code to uphold, oaths we swore-"
"We broke those the moment we betrayed Nickolas." David shook his head and looked at Kalim. "What can you offer in exchange for our cooperation? Safety is something we can provide ourselves, it’s too little."
A new voice responded to the question.
"How about power beyond anything you can imagine? Freedom to do as you please?"
Thratvar emerged from a corridor with Tharosk in tow.
David looked at the two Blightborn with slight apprehension.
"Can you promise that your actions won’t lead to the demise or enslavement of humanity?"
"We intend to get out of this world as soon as our objective is complete." The Pathseeker promised.
"Don’t worry, I might be a slimy backstabbing bastard, but I’m not insane." Kalim laughed. "I would have never agreed to a plan that would lead to the destruction of my own race."
David fell silent – and then stepped forward.
"This is madness!" Rudolph hissed and backed away a little.
David turned around to address the rest of his companions.
One by one, the other knights slowly left Rudolph’s side and approached David.
Eventually the oldest knight was left all by himself, so David came closer to him and extended his hand.
"Come on old friend – you’ve already sold your soul once, what’s a second time?"
Rudolph gritted his teeth – and then finally sighed in defeat, grabbing the offered hand in acceptance.