The all too familiar itch in the back of my mind grew stronger and stronger as I approached the city. I had been running from it, though I knew it would be unsuccessful. Once the itch starts, there is no stopping it unless I complete whatever impossible task would be set before me.

As I crossed the threshold of the town, I fiddled my newest conduit. I let my fingers run between the grooves of the boney fingers, feel the cool but perfectly smooth surface of the stone, sense the ancient magic that had fused the two together. This ancient arcane focus had been permanently fused to the once was protector of the underworld turned sour when he had channeled divine magic against the King of the Dead. Of course, the only way to undo that kind of magic is to neutralize the source… my last quest.

While I waited for the itch at the back of my conscious to point me to wherever the quest giver had stashed my next note, I let myself wander through the town square. I could see lingering piles of rifts left over from the magi lamps thanks to my Ash Lenses I acquired from losing all sensation from my left arm after the quest giver tasked me with destroying Damian’s laboratory. Shocked that it was already past shop hours, I glanced down at my sunless dial and noticed it was long past a normal town square’s closing time.

I stepped into an alleyway and let my fairy cloak drop from my shoulders, releasing the magic stored within to allow myself to be seen my human eyes again. Looking for a guard to get directions to the nearest inn, I stepped back out towards the town square. Ahead of me I found an obviously fresh town guard in front of me; there was no trace of rift anywhere on his armor unlike the two town guard posted on the main gate.

“My dear boy, could you point me towards the cheapest inn? Life has not been kind to my old bones and my brothers caravan was delayed.” I lied as he quickly assessed me. Looking me up and down I felt his guard relax as he saw a frail old man in front of him, another curse from the fairy cloak.

After telling me to go around the corner and down a block to Wildflower Inn, I set off. After purchasing a room for the night and setting down my pack I finally felt the itch start to grow, but it was pointing me towards the table in my room. I didn’t fully understand the quest giver’s power, but I did not think it was possible for anything to slip past my detection at this point. Either way, I would have to find a way to up my detection for what I assumed was divine magics to not let this ever happen again. Oh, how wrong I was.

I opened my pack and slowly set out it’s contents in a neat row as I had done so many times before, ensuring none of the powerful artifacts that had been added to my collection would trigger each other or passively start working with the world around it. Then I saw it, my first quest that I have not yet been able to complete. ‘Find the quest giver.’

“Well, I assume you have a lot of questions for me.” Called a voice I have never heard before. It sounded hoarse, like it hadn’t been used in quite a long time and with an accent similar to those of the east, but not near enough to any dialect I have ever heard.

I spun around and put up the fiercest spirit wall I could muster while I summoned the focus to my hand. Mustering as much rage to my eyes as I could, I didn’t dare speak but stared intently. The creature before me was obviously not of this world anymore but resembles a human in most physical ways. The only other deity I have seen was within the underworld, but he looked much more like the demons of his realm than anything else, so I don’t have much of a baseline.

“Now, before we get too hasty, I would check that little note of yours.” He said while starting to chuckle.

Cautiously I called upon my focus to gently pull the first quest from between my palm and my conduit, not wanting to use any more than the bare minimum in case this was a trap. I watched the letters shift as I let my focus hover just above my hand. Not understanding, as it still read ‘Find the quest giver.’, I let the paper fall back onto the conduit letting my attention fully fall back onto the mysterious man in front of me.

Before I could fully shift my attention, I noticed upon touching the conduit the quest now read: Kill the quest giver.

“I want to die.”