Varian 2

The voices grew louder. Two men, maybe more, were stationed in the next room. Their conversation was muffled, but I caught enough.

"…still haven't returned. If they're dead, we're—"

"Shut up. Varian said to hold position."

Damon leaned in close. "Two of them. Should we take them out quietly?"

I nodded. A direct fight would alert the others. We needed to thin their numbers first.

We crept forward, sticking to the shadows. The guards stood near a crumbling table, weapons resting at their sides. They weren't expecting a fight.

Perfect.

I gestured—I'll take the left. Damon gave a slight nod—he had the right.

I moved first, silent as a shadow. My dagger flashed, slicing across the man's throat before he could react. He choked, gurgled, then collapsed.

Damon's kill was just as swift. A clean strike.

Both bodies hit the ground without a sound.

[DING!]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

▶ [Enemies Eliminated – +1 Strength, +1 Agility]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I wiped my blade clean. "Two down."

Damon searched the corpses, pulling a key from one of their belts. "Might be useful."

I pocketed it. Then, we pressed on.

---

We reached a staircase leading downward. A heavy door stood at the bottom, slightly ajar. Faint candlelight flickered from within.

Damon tensed. "You feel that?"

I did. A presence. Strong. Familiar.

Varian.

I exhaled slowly. "He's here."

Damon's grip tightened on his sword. "Then let's finish this."

We stepped forward.

The hunt was over.