Aeruthar kidnapped Cutlery upon her arrival back on the third sliver floor.
"I heard from Clyde you do gym training every day! But not with me? Let me show you!" Aeruthat yelled. He carried her by the ankles. Jim gave her a salute as she was paraded by him in the hallway. Once inside the gym Aeruthat took her over to some complex machines. The metal cogs, ropes, and weights looked like a dwarven wagon. Several other small machine like set up sat around the main large one.
Chloe her old baby sitter was laying flat beneath one metallic gizmo. She was grabbing a huge metal bar that held massive weights on each end. With great rippling arms she thrust it up and down one pump after another. Cutlery hadn't seen Chloe out of armor and now understood her strength.
Aeruthar walked to and padded Chloe when she finished her set. Chloe sat up with a great sigh of breath and grabbed a towel from a nearby hook. Then she saw Cutlery.
"Cutlery? Wow, you move fast! I thought Haze would slit your throat before I saw you again!" Chloe said. Cutlery walked over smiling.
"I seem more useful to him somehow. People like Aeruthat have been making sure of that." Cutlery said. Aeruthar let out a yell and picked Cutlery up.
Within a few minutes, Cutlrey's muscles were screaming and Aeruthar's mouth was as well. Chloe continued her own work. A small smirk would pass over Chloe as Aeruthar went ballistic coaching her. After about twenty minutes Cutlery couldn't take anymore. With great humility Cutelry demanded a break.
Aeruthar nodded and started hitting the weights. She lay on the floor. Her mind wandered and she remembered her new purpose. Cutlery figured something must be wrong with her focus.
"Aeruthar you've been here a long time. Does Haze hate you? Haze hates me and I get promoted." Cutlery asked. Aeruthars gears turned while he lifted.
"No/ It is odd." Aeruthrar said with a chuckle. Cutlery continued.
"Why don't you just demand another sliver, talk some sense into him, I'm sure eight months here burns," Cutlery said, Aeruthar sighed and put down the bar. He sat up.
"It does. I'm satisfied with where I am though. Chloe on the other hand has said the same thing. She has been here a little less time than me." Aeruthar said and looked at Chloe.
"That's right. I think we should be doing more than guard duty. All we do is protect their precious children and put down any real organized threats to their power." Chloe said. "But I mean, I'm thankful." Chloe followed up.
"No, it's alright. I was just curious if everyone here was a tower slave or if we're all just under Haze's thumb." Cutlery said as she stood up.
"That is the real question." A voice came from the corner. Jim appeared from invisibility once again. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I'll trim to the catch. Who's interested in changing things?" Jim asked. He had beat her to it. Wait, why had he done that? It couldn't be.
Jim walked into the middle of the group and pulled a notepad out. "I've been working on putting together a group to replace Haze. We're led by a golden general and everything. Everyone here down? Shall I put your names down?" Jim asked and looked around the room.
-
The words hung in the air. A sharp edge infused the air as the echo faded. Cutlery shifted and broke the silence first.
"Why offer this to us? The tower gives us great stuff and we can work our way up." Cutlery asked. Chloe nodded. Jim scratched his chin before responding.
"They kill children," Jim said. Aeruthar shot over to him. His face fueled red suddenly as his fair elven features loomed over the humans.
"That was an accident," Aeruthar said. Jim looked him in the eyes.
"It wasn't," Jim said. Aeruthar stared him down and then his rage simmered down to anger.
"They wouldn't do that," Aeruthar said.
"Wouldn't they? They already make children into adults and then cut them loose. It's like killing someone slightly younger than you. It's not adults killing kids. It's preteen's killing kids. Then they make us soldiers, train us, and send us on fucking anti-heresy missions. We may have divine bodies, but all of us are kids. Cutlery was six years old only a few months ago. Now she has slain dozens, watched dozens slain, and made decisions our parents still haven't! We are up here thinking about sex, war, money, divine law, moral justice! We are kids! Anyone the supports that system is blind, or committing atrocities knowingly." Jim said. A little emotion bled into his speech near the end.
Aeruthar scrutinized Jim. Chloe eased closer.
"Jim, we don't want that. But rebellion, against people with double our slivers?" Chloe said quietly.
"Against a group with a tenth as many people! A group with armies who can't find an enchanted speech or two!" Jim escalated his voice. He looked towards the door. This time he lowered his volume.
"Listen, you don't have to decide now. But our quests coming up are in prep for something big. I have a plan to mess things up. Draw out the high slivers away from the tower. Away from the spiral vault, where all our slivers come from." Jim whispered intensely. They all leaned in at the mention of the vault.
"The quests have something to do with the Eternal One's betrayal. They seem confident they will be invincible after all the work is done." Jim said.
"If we can complete these quests and tamper with whatever the goal is we could stop it," Jim whispered. They had formed a huddle.
"I've already got Tool in on it. They can alter anything we find. If we can get whatever it is to them. I might even be able to make extras. But I need to know you're in." Jim said. He looked at each of them once more.
This time they all nodded. He smiled and straightened his back. His old facade fell over his face again.
"Good good! Ol chaps' we have a deal! Just bring the relics or whatever to Tool before turning them in to Haze. If Haze finds out, say that Tool wanted to research them." Jim explained.
"We didn't have this meeting," Jim said, he turned invisible once more.
"I thought he could only do that once a day..." Chloe said.
-
Cutlery later that day let Jim know she had Rega working up the seconds. Tall was already with them. Jim put Rega's growing group in contact with one he had already made within seconds. Nearly two-thirds of their floor was in on the rebellion.
Out of sheer curiosity, Cutlery told Jim about the escaped second sliver who appeared to gain power, perhaps another sliver, outside the Spiral Vault. Jim ate that up. He barraged her with questions about what happened, the exact words spoken, and more. If they could gain slivers separate from the spiral vault, they would be unstoppable. It would even knock off one of the hardest steps of the plan. Sadly Jim didn't have any experience with something similar. Cutlery went to bed giddy.
In the morning she and Fish ate breakfast together. Over hushed whispers, Cutlery convinced him to join the cause. Fish said Gill was a bit of a tower loyalist. Gill would be hard to convince to go against the golds. Fish was on their side at least. Nearly half the third slivers were in the rebellion. The firsts were falling in line as well. They loved Cutlery, Fish, and Asim. They hated Haze.
Fish fed them the truth, half-lies, and full lies about what Haze did. They feared Haze. Their hatred grew even in that single day of training.
Things came to a head the next lunch. Haze came in to announce a quest when a kid tried to trip him. They stuck their leg out in front of him. Haze didn't trip. He just jerked his leg forward. A crack resounded through the room and the kid's leg snapped. Cutlery and Fish took them to the infirmary.
A reminder of the upper slivers' power. That was Haze alone as well. After they got off Haze pulled them aside in the lift. He pulled the lever slightly to slow the ascent.
"I'm gonna do your quest briefing here between my meetings. First off though, the firsts seem to be getting out of line. Any rumors you two have heard?" Haze asked. He watched them, but Cutlery didn't think it was with suspicion.
"No sir," Fish said.
"Me either sir." Cutlery said. Haze paused another second then spoke.
"Good. Just a bad batch perhaps then. You two and your usual partners will be sent on a quest tomorrow to retrieve an artifact. Your group is one of only a handful to be successful thus far. You also managed to destroy the heretics' ship. The fewer supplies and mobility for them, the better. They also don't know your faces just yet.
The next one is much more complicated. The last relic had just arrived. It was going to where this quest shall be. The heretics' lair." Haze said. He paused as the lift came to a slow stop. He held the door closed.
"It's hidden in the mountain peaks outside the city. Within the Eternal Glacier. The glacier is made of ancient ice that never melts. Though certain spells can move the ice. They have created a tunnel city in there that is a hell hole to get an army into. So we won't send an army in.
You will break in. Steal the artifact, and anything else important you find. Meet me at this lift an hour before dawn tomorrow. Dismissed." Haze said. He let go of the door. It slid open on glowing rails. He turned and started clacking down the hall.
